add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Gazelle exercise equipment :: Tony Little Gazelle Freestyle Glider best-home-gyms.com | Technology - NORMA Gains Gazelle Company Status... drugdevelopment-technolog... | Trypanosoma and Gazelles priory.com |
This article is about the antelope species. For other uses, see Gazelle (disambiguation). A gazelle (Arabic: غزال ġazāl) is any of many antelope species currently or formerly in the genus Gazella. Six species are included in two genera (Eudorcas and Nanger) which were formerly considered subgenera. The genus Procapra has also been considered a subgenus of Gazella, and its members are also referred to as gazelles; however they are not dealt with in this article. Gazelles are known as swift animals – some are able to maintain speeds as high as 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) for extended periods of time.[1] Gazelles are mostly found in the deserts, grasslands and savannas of Africa, but they are also found in southwest and central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. They tend to live in herds and will eat less coarse, easily digestible plants and leaves. The gazelle species are classified in the Gazella, Eudorcas and Nager. The taxonomy of these genera is a confused one, and the classification of species and subspecies has been an unsettled issue. Currently, the genus Gazella is widely considered to contain about 13 species.[citation needed] Four further species are extinct – the Red Gazelle, the Arabian Gazelle, the Queen of Sheba's Gazelle and the Saudi Gazelle. Most surviving gazelle species are considered threatened to varying degrees. One widely familiar gazelle is the African species Thomson's Gazelle (Eudorcas thomsoni), which is around 53 to 66 cm (21 to 26 in) in height at the shoulder and is coloured brown and white with a distinguishing black stripe (as in the picture on the right). The males have long, often curved, horns. Like many other prey species, Tommies (as they are familiarly called) exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting (running slowly and jumping high before fleeing) when they are threatened by predators such as lions or cheetahs. This is a primary piece of evidence for the handicap principle advanced by Amotz Zahavi in the study of animal communication and behaviour.
[edit] Gallery[edit] Species[2]
[edit] ExtinctFossils of genus Gazella are found in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of Eurasia and Africa. The tiny Gazella borbonica is one of the earliest European gazelles, characterized by its small size and short legs. Gazelles disappeared from Europe at the start of Ice Age, but they survived in Africa and Middle East. Four species became extinct in recent times due to human causes. [edit] Recent extinctions
[edit] Prehistoric extinctions
[edit] References
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
