Heuglin's gazelle (''Eudorcas tilonura''), also known as the Eritrean gazelle, is a species of

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...

found east of the

Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...

in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. It was considered a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

red-fronted gazelle The red-fronted gazelle (''Eudorcas rufifrons'') is widely but unevenly distributed gazelle across the middle of Africa from Senegal to northeastern Ethiopia. It is mainly resident in the Sahel zone, a narrow cross-Africa band south of the S ...

(''E. rufifrons'') or

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with

Thomson's gazelle Thomson's gazelle (''Eudorcas thomsonii'') is one of the best known species of gazelles. It is named after explorer Joseph Thomson and is sometimes referred to as a "tommie". It is considered by some to be a subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle a ...

(''E. thomsonii'') and

Mongalla gazelle The Mongalla gazelle (''Eudorcas albonotata'') is a species of gazelle found in the floodplain and savanna of South Sudan. It was first described by British zoologist Walter Rothschild in 1903. The taxonomic status of the Mongalla gazelle is wi ...

(''E. albonotata'') by some authors in the past. This small gazelle stands nearly at the shoulder and weighs between . The

coat A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...

is dark reddish brown with a dark reddish stripe on the flanks, except for the underparts and the

rump Rump may refer to: * Rump (animal) ** Buttocks * Rump steak, slightly different cuts of meat in Britain and America * Rump kernel, software run in userspace that offers kernel functionality in NetBSD Politics *Rump cabinet * Rump legislature * Ru ...

which are white.

Horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

s, present in both sexes, measure in length. Little is known about the ecology and behaviour of Heuglin's gazelles; they typically remain solitary or form groups of two to four. Herbivores, these gazelles possibly

browse Browsing is a kind of orienting strategy. It is supposed to identify something of relevance for the browsing organism. When used about human beings it is a metaphor taken from the animal kingdom. It is used, for example, about people browsing o ...

as well as graze.

Gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregna ...

lasts nearly six months, after which probably a single calf is born. Heuglin's gazelles inhabit open areas such as

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

s, dry grasslands and thorn bushlands up to an elevation of .

Habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and

illegal hunting Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

for meat are major threats to the survival of these gazelles. Populations might have fallen by 20% in roughly nine years after 2008; as of 2016, only 2,500 to 3,500 individuals remain in small fragmented groups, with fewer than 2,500 adults. Heuglin's gazelle is classified as

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Taxonomy

German explorer and ornithologist

Theodor von Heuglin Martin Theodor von Heuglin (20 March 1824, Hirschlanden, Württemberg5 November 1876), was a German explorer and ornithologist. Biography Heuglin was born in Hirschlanden (now part of Ditzingen) in Württemberg. His father was a Protestant past ...

first described Heuglin's gazelle in 1863. He based his description on a specimen from the plains close to Ain-Saba in Bogosland in

Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...

(the Ethiopian Empire). This species has been considered a

of the

(''Eudorcas rufifrons'') or

with Thomson's gazelle (''E. thomsonii'') and Mongalla gazelle (''E. albonotata'') by some authors. In 2013, biologist

Colin Groves Colin Peter Groves (24 June 1942 – 30 November 2017) was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist. Groves was Professor of Biological Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Education Born in Englan ...

considered Heuglin's gazelle an independent species, and this has subsequently been followed by many authors.

Characteristics

This species is notably smaller than other

s, shows significantly lesser

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

and has shorter and thinner

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

s (present in both sexes). The head-and-body length is between , and the shoulder height is nearly . Males weigh between , while the weight of females varies from . The

is dark reddish brown, except for the underparts and the

which are white. There is a dark reddish stripe on the flanks. The face is darker in the middle, and there are white circles around the eyes. The horns measure in males and in females, and turn inward at the tips. They are spaced apart at the base, and the tips are separated by . Females have more slender and straighter horns than do males. The tail measures and is

rufous Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...

at the base, turning black towards the end. It is smaller and more rufous than the red-fronted gazelle, the nose is unmarked.

Dorcas gazelle The dorcas gazelle (''Gazella dorcas''), also known as the ariel gazelle, is a small and common gazelle. The dorcas gazelle stands about at the shoulder, with a head and body length of and a weight of . The numerous subspecies survive on vegeta ...

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

with Heuglin's gazelle in some areas, has a lighter reddish stripe. The larger and paler

Soemmerring's gazelle Soemmerring's gazelle (''Nanger soemmerringii''), also known as the Abyssinian mohr, is a gazelle species native to the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan). The species was described and given its binomen by ...

shares its range with Heuglin's gazelle in southwestern Eritrea, and has short, heavy horns curved backward with tips pointing inward, a whiter rump and short white hairs on the tail.

Ecology and behaviour

Heuglin's gazelles lead solitary lives or form groups of two to four. They scrape the ground to create resting sites under shrubs or large trees, such as the Egyptian balsam (''Balanites aegyptiaca'') in

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

hs and ''

Vachellia nubica ''Vachellia nubica'' is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae. Botanical description It is a somewhat obconical shrub which grows up to about 5 metres high. The branches often radiate from the base in all directions. The branchlets tend to ...

'' in shrublands, during the hottest period of the day. Groups of gazelles may rest in shallower sites for long periods of time, as suggested by the increasing dung piles in these areas. Little is known of

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

behaviour in the wild; captive males form dung heaps close to the fences of their enclosures, smelling and scratching the ground nearby followed by excretion.

Preorbital gland The preorbital gland is a paired exocrine gland found in many species of hoofed animals, which is homologous to the lacrimal gland found in humans. These glands are trenchlike slits of dark blue to black, nearly bare skin extending from the med ...

s are also used for marking. Herbivores, they possibly

as well as graze. Though Heuglin's gazelles can survive for long periods without water, they are more water-dependent than other gazelles in their range. Copulation lasts a few seconds; the male stands upright on the hindfeet and mounts the female.

lasts 184 to 189 days, after which probably a single calf is born; most births take place in the wet season.

Jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

s may prey on young; hyaenas may also be potential

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s. Little else is known about the ecology and behaviour of these gazelles.

Distribution and habitat

The range is east of the

and patchy, bounded by the southern Red Sea Hills in Sudan and mountainous terrain in northwestern Ethiopia and western Eritrea. Heuglin's gazelles inhabit open areas such as

s, dry grasslands and thorn bushlands up to an elevation of . Little is known about the populations and their status. Numbers have plummeted in Eritrea; in 2019 the Forestry and Wild Life Authority of Eritrea declared that Heuglin's gazelle had been sighted again in the country in the Dige sub-zone (

Gash-Barka Region Gash-Barka ( ti, ጋሽ-ባርካ, it, Regione di Gasc-Barca) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It is situated in the south-west of the country, bordering the Anseba region to the north, and the Maekel (Central) and Debub (Southern) regio ...

). The gazelle was reportedly seen last during the time of the Italian colonial rule in Eritrea (19th to 20th centuries).

Threats and conservation

The

classifies Heuglin's gazelle as

. According to the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, the numbers might have fallen by as much as 20% in roughly nine years after 2008. As of 2016, only 2,500 to 3,500 individuals remain in small fragmented groups, with fewer than 2,500 adults. The gazelle is suffering from severe

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

due to

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

agricultural expansion Agricultural expansion describes the growth of agricultural land (arable land, pastures, etc.) especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. The agricultural expansion is often explained as a direct consequence of the global increase in food and ene ...

and

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

Illegal hunting Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

for meat is another major threat. Heuglin's gazelle occurs in several protected areas:

Gash-Setit Gash-Setit is a designated national wildlife reserve and historical area of western Eritrea where its considered to be the northern most point of Africa for elephant habitat. It is located in much of Omhajer District and Haykota District betw ...

in Eritrea,

Kafta Sheraro National Park Kafta Sheraro National Park (; ) is a national park in the Tigray. Kafta Sheraro National Park is the only national park in Tigrai and one of the few high bio-diversified parks in East Africa. It was established more than 50 years ago by Raesi M ...

(and probably Alatash National Park) in Ethiopia, and Dinder National Park in Sudan. Antelope conservationist Rod East noted that populations in the Dinder National Park are threatened by hunting particularly in the wet season when the animals often cross the border of the park. Moreover, in the dry season camel and goat herders often trespass the area and let their animals graze on the vegetation, depriving Heuglin's gazelles of food and resting sites.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q27980418, from2=Q9266323

Heuglin's gazelle Heuglin's gazelle (''Eudorcas tilonura''), also known as the Eritrean gazelle, is a species of gazelle found east of the Nile River in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. It was considered a subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle (''E. rufifrons'') or c ...

Mammals of Eritrea Mammals of Ethiopia Mammals of Sudan

Taxa named by Theodor von Heuglin