Animal: Antelope

Scientific Name: Numerous, depending on the subspecies

Animal Type: Mammal

Habitats: Desert and Savanna

The Antelope:

One of the most well-known creatures on the savanna, antelopes are the constant target of hungry predators. To counter this, the antelope's speed and agility allow for a quick escape. There are many subspecies of Antelope, including the commonly known Impala and Gazelle. Antelope are diverse in size, with the Wildebeest being one of the largest.

Physical Characteristics:

Antelopes are herbivorous hoofed mammals of the family Bovidae. These animals are spread relatively evenly throughout the various subfamilies of the Bovidae and many are more closely related to cows or goats than to each other. There are many species of antelope, ranging in size from the tiny Royal Antelope to the ox-like Elands.

Male antelope are noted for their horns, which are permanent, unlike the annually-shed antlers of deer. Antelope typically have a light and elegant frame, slender, graceful limbs, small cloven hoofs, and a short tail. Except for the smallest species which hide in thickets or long grass, their principal defense against predators is to run and jump, at which they are proficient, and gazelles have a characteristic jumping gait called pronking.

Antelope are found in a wide range of habitats, typically woodland, forest, savannas, grassland plains, and marshes. Several species are adapted to mountains and rocky outcrops, a few to deserts (both hot and cold), and a couple are semi-aquatic and live in swamps.

Antelopes have a dense coat of short fur. In most species, the coat (pelage) is some variation of a brown color (or several shades of brown); often with white or pale under-bodies. Common features of various gazelles are a white rump, which flashes a warning to others when they run from danger, and a dark stripe mid-body (the latter feature is also shared by the Springbok and Beira).

Antelopes are ruminants, and thus have well-developed molar teeth, which grind cud (food balls stored in the stomach) into a pulp for further digestion. They have no upper incisors, but rather a hard upper gum pad, against which their lower incisors bite to tear grass stems and leaves.

Like many other herbivores, antelopes rely on keen senses to avoid predators. Their eyes are placed on the sides of their heads, giving them a broad radius of vision with minimal binocular vision. The fact that most species have their pupils elongated horizontally also helps in this respect. Acute senses of smell and hearing, give antelope the ability to perceive danger at night out in the open (when predators are often on the prowl). These same senses play an important role in contact between individuals of the same species: markings on head, ears, legs and rumps are used in such communication; many species "flash" such markings, as well as their tails; vocal communications include loud barks, whistles, "moos" and trumpeting; many species also use scent marking to define their territories or simply to maintain contact with their relatives and neighbors.

Food Chain:

With food that does not move, antelopes (like other herbivores) do not need any great intelligence. However, they do need to be able to react quickly in the presence of a predator; thus, they tend to be fast runners. They are agile (able to execute fast turns on the run) and have good endurance (ability to keep running for some time); these are advantages when pursued by sprint-dependent predators like cheetah, which are the fastest of land animals, but tire quickly.

Different species differ in their behavior in the presence of predators, and these differences are often associated with habitat. For example, the Steenbok of open woodland will lie low until the last minute and then bound away. Plains-living species, such as gazelles, do not have this choice and must flee at speed when a predator approaches. Reaction distances vary with predator species and predator behavior. For example, gazelles may not flee from a lion until it is closer than 200 m (650 ft). However, sprint-dependent cheetahs will cause gazelles to flee at a range of over 800 m (0.5 mile).

Habitat features:

Species of forest, woodland or bush tend to be sedentary, but many of the plains species undertake huge migrations. These migrations enable grass-eating species to follow the rains and therefore their food supply. The gnus and gazelles of East Africa perform some of the most impressive mass migratory circuits of all mammals.