Agazelle is one of many antelope species in the genusGazella/ɡəˈzɛlə/.[2] There are also seven species included in two further genera; Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgeneraofGazella. A third former subgenus, Procapra, includes three living species of Asian gazelles.
Gazelles are known as swift animals. Some can run at bursts as high as 100 km/h (60 mph) or run at a sustained speed of 50 km/h (30 mph).[3] Gazelles are found mostly in the deserts, grasslands, and savannasofAfrica, but they are also found in southwest and central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. They tend to live in herds, and eat fine, easily digestible plants and leaves.
Gazelles are relatively small antelopes, most standing 60–110 cm (2–3.5 ft) high at the shoulder, and are generally fawn-colored.
The gazelle genera are Gazella, Eudorcas, and Nanger. The taxonomy of these genera is confused, and the classification of species and subspecies has been an unsettled issue. Currently, the genus Gazella is widely considered to contain about 10 species.[4] One subspecies is extinct: the Queen of Sheba's gazelle. Most surviving gazelle species are considered threatened to varying degrees. Closely related to the true gazelles are the Tibetan goa and Mongolian gazelles (species of the genus Procapra), the blackbuck of Asia, and the African springbok.
One widely familiar gazelle is the African species Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii), sometimes referred to as a "tommie". It is around 60 to 70 cm (24 to 28 in) in shoulder height and is coloured brown and white with a distinguishing black stripe. The males have long, often curved, horns. Like many other prey species, tommies exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting (running and jumping high before fleeing) when they are threatened by predators such as cheetahs, lions, African wild dogs, crocodiles, hyenas, and leopards.
Gazelle is derived from Frenchgazelle, Old Frenchgazel, probably via Old Spanishgacel, probably from North African pronunciation of Arabic: غزالġazāl,[5][6]Maghrebi pronunciation ġazēl.[7] To Europe it first came to Old Spanish and Old French,[7] and then around 1600 the word entered the English language.[8] The Arab people traditionally hunted the gazelle. Later appreciated for its grace, however, it became a symbol most commonly associated in Arabic literature with human female beauty.[9][10] In many countries in Northwestern Sub-Saharan Africa, the gazelle is commonly referred to as "dangelo", meaning "swift deer".[11]
The gazelle, like the antelope to which it is related, is the totem of many African families. Some examples include the Joof family of the Senegambia region,[12][13] the Bagananoa of BotswanainSouthern Africa (said to be descended from the BaHurutshe),[14] and the Eraraka (or Erarak) clan of Uganda.[15] As is common in many African societies, it is forbidden for the Joof or Eraraka to kill or touch the family totem.[13][15]
One of the traditional themes of Arabic love poetry involves comparing the gazelle with the beloved, and linguists theorize ghazal, the word for love poetry in Arabic, is related to the word for gazelle.[16] It is related that the CaliphAbd al-Malik (646–705) freed a gazelle that he had captured because of her resemblance to his beloved:
O likeness of Layla, never fear!
For I am your friend, today, O wild gazelle!
Then I say, after freeing her from her fetters:
You are free for the sake of Layla, for ever![16]
The theme is found in the ancient Hebrew Song of Songs. (8:14)
Come away, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
on the spice-laden mountains.
Fossils 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 the Ice Age, but they survived in Africa and the Middle East.[citation needed]
^"Gazelle". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2007, Columbia University Press.
^Eva Verena Bärmann; et al. (2013), "The curious case of Gazella arabica", Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde, 78 (3): 220–225, doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2012.07.003
^Tchernov, E.; Ginsburg, L.; et al. (1987). "Miocene mammals of the Negev (Israel)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 7 (3): 284–310. doi:10.1080/02724634.1987.10011661.
^Geraads, D.; Raynal, J.; Sbihi-Alaoui, F. (February 2010). "Mammalian faunas from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Casablanca (Morocco)". Historical Biology. 22 (1–3): 275–285. doi:10.1080/08912960903458011. S2CID128756698.
^Sponheimer, M.; Reed, K.E.; Lee-Thorp, J.A. (June 1999). "Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: a case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality". Journal of Human Evolution. 36 (6): 705–718. doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0300. PMID10330334.
^ abcKhan, M.A.; Asim, M.; et al. (August 2021). "New remains of Gazella (Bovidae) from Middle Miocene, Pakistan". Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 14 (17): 1703. doi:10.1007/s12517-021-07885-8. S2CID236948573.
^Bouvrain, G. (1996). "The gazelles from the late Miocene of Macedonia, Greece". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie. 199 (1): 111–32. doi:10.1127/njgpa/199/1996/111.
^Meng, X.; Zhu, D.; et al. (September 2010). "Late Cenozoic stratigraphy and paleomagnetic chronology of the Zanda Basin, Tibet, and records of the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". Acta Geologica Sinica. 82 (1): 63–72. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2008.tb00325.x. S2CID128749824.
^Vislobokova, I.; Dmitrieva, E.; Kalmykov, N. (1995). "Artiodactyls From the Late Pliocene of Udunga, Western Trans-Baikal, Russia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 15 (1): 146–159. doi:10.1080/02724634.1995.10011214.
Quotations related to Gazelles at Wikiquote
