Cuvier's gazelle (''Gazella cuvieri'') 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 ...

native to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...

, and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. It is also known as the edmi.Ultimate ungulate.com
It is one of the darkest gazelle species, possibly an adaptation to its partial

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. It is sometimes placed into the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Trachelocele'' together with the goitered gazelles and the

rhim gazelle The rhim gazelle or rhim (''Gazella leptoceros''), also known as the slender-horned gazelle, African sand gazelle or Loder's gazelle, is a pale-coated gazelle with long slender horns and well adapted to desert life. It is considered an endangered ...

Characteristics

Cuvier's gazelle is one of the darkest and smallest of the gazelle species, standing tall, with an average weight of . It is characterized by a distinctive wide, dark band that runs along the sides of the animal, which separates the brown dorsal parts from the white ventral parts. They possess long, slender ears. While both sexes have

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

between long, the male's horns are more ribbed and have greater mass. The purpose of the dark bands that run parallel along the side of the animal is to aid in countershading, having ventral body

pelage Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

that is more lightly colored that the dorsal surface to counteract the effect of the body's self-shadowing.

Status

In the past, the reason for decline of the gazelle was

overhunting Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term ap ...

for skins, meat, and trophies. In the 1930s, it was already considered one of the rarest gazelles, but it was not listed as endangered until the 1960s. Though it is now unlawful to hunt the animal, they still suffer from

stress due to local

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s destroying habitat for pastureland and competition from domestic

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

and goats. Once thought to be extinct in the wild, the gazelle's population is now thought to be less than 2000, occupying small pockets of the Atlas Mountains. Many of the animals can be found on protected land in Tunisia, but this is not the case in Morocco and Algeria, where many of the animals are still being outcompeted for food from livestock. One of the most important refuges is Djebel Chambi National Park, which holds the largest population in Tunisia. A reintroduction program was conducted in the Tunisian Jebel Serj National Park: In 2019, 30 gazelles were released, all born in Tunisia over the course of three breeding seasons, out of a carefully considered Spanish stock of gazelles bread in captivity in Almeria and the Canari Island. The reintroduced population multiplied and is progressively increasing. In Algeria the 200,000 ha Saharan Atlas National Park is a refuge for about a hundred Cuvier's gazelles. The

Belezma National Park The Belezma National Park (Arabic:الحظيرة الوطنية بلزمة) is one of the most important List of national parks of Algeria, national parks of Algeria. It is located in Batna Province on the slopes of the Belezma Range, a subrange ...

has about 20, but this figure is uncertain and a reintroduction has been planned.David P. Mallon, Steven Charles Kingswood eds. ''Antelopes: North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.'' p. 27

Habitat

Cuvier's gazelle inhabits the Atlas Mountains in Northwestern Africa.STLZoo.org
It is found in many different types of landscapes. The preference is for sandy or stony hills and

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

s. They also occupy areas of regenerating forests and lush

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s. During the early morning and late evening they come out of the mountains to graze in the low

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s. Then in the afternoon, they will travel back up the mountain into the forests and find a cool place to spend the day.

Behavior

Cuvier's gazelle tend to live in social groups of three or four during mating season, but usually not more than eight. Groups tend to contain one male and up to three females each with up to two offspring. During the mating season, the dominant males will force the younger males out of the social group; they will form bachelor groups. Then, the females will leave the group to give birth. After giving birth, females will join bachelor groups and live the rest of mating season with them. Their main defense is their alertness. When sensing something suspicious, they will set off an alert signal by flicking their tails and performing a strong gait, of jumping into the air and having all four hooves land on the ground at the same time. Along with their alertness, they are also one of the fastest gazelles, reaching and sustaining top speeds over 50 mph.

Reproduction

With the gestation period lasting around 160 days, the gazelles tend to breed in the winter and give birth in the early spring. Before giving birth, the mother will separate herself from the herd to give birth, and then hide the newborn in the thick underbrush outside the herd, returning occasionally to nurse it. This occurs for the first month until the newborn begins to eat vegetation, but still relying on nourishment from its mother. Cuvier's gazelle is one of the few gazelle species to frequently give birth to twins (40.5%), with singlets weighing an average of and twins weighing an average of . Ten days after giving birth, the females may breed again, giving birth to two sets of offspring per year. Newborn females can become fertile as early as 27 weeks and can give birth as soon as 70 weeks of age. As

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

ruminants, the diet of Cuvier's gazelle consists entirely of leaves,

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

es, and other vegetation. They will consume large amounts of greenery and find a cool place during the day to finish chewing their cuds, remnant wads of food that return from the stomach (eructation) to be chewed a second time for further digestion.

References

Naturalsciences.beCuvier’s gazelle at The Living Desert

External links

*ARKive
images and movies of the Cuvier's gazelle ''(Gazella cuvieri)''
{{DEFAULTSORT:gazelle, Cuvier's Cuvier's gazelle Antelopes of North Africa Cuvier's gazelle Taxa named by William Ogilby