Rhim gazelle

Rhim gazelle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Antilopinae
Genus: Gazella
Species: G. leptoceros
Binomial name
Gazella leptoceros
(F. Cuvier, 1842)

The rhim gazelle (Gazella leptoceros), also known as the slender-horned gazelle or sand gazelle, is a slender-horned gazelle, mostly adapted to desert life. It is listed as Endangered because fewer than 2500 are left in the wild. They are found in Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan.

Description

Skull
Horns of a rhim gazelle (below) and Dorcas gazelle (above)

The palest of the gazelles, this animal has adapted to desert life in many ways. Their pale coats reflect the sun's rays instead of absorbing them, and their hooves are slightly enlarged to help them walk on the sand, although occasionally they occupy stony regions. The horns on the male are slender and slightly S-shaped; those of the female are even thinner, lighter and less curved.

Habitat

The rhim or rheem gazelle is found in isolated pockets across the central Sahara Desert. [2] The extreme heat of this environment limits their feeding to the early morning and evening, and G. leptoceros gains most of its water requirements from dew and plant moisture, relying little on open water sources.

The rhim gazelle is a nomadic species, moving across its desert range in search of vegetation, though it does not have a set migratory pattern. [3]

Endangered by the early 1970s, this species of gazelle was in serious decline. They were hunted firstly by mounted then by motorized hunters for sport, meat, or their horns, which were sold as ornaments in North African markets.

Rhim gazelle in philately

On February 1, 1987, the Libyan General Posts and Telecommunications Company, in cooperation with World Wide Fund for Nature, issued a set of four postage stamps illustrating Gazella leptoceros.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Mallon, D.P., Cuzin, F., de Smet, K. & Hoffmann, M. (2008). "Gazella leptoceros". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  2. ↑ (Kingdom 1997, Spinage 1986).
  3. ↑ (East 1997, Kingdom 1997).
  4. ↑ Libyan Stamps online

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.