Red antelopes

Red antelopes
	Male sable antelope ( H. niger )
Systematics
Subordination :	Ruminants (ruminantia)
without rank:	Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family :	Horned Bearers (Bovidae)
Subfamily :	Antilopinae
Tribe :	Horse rams (Hippotragini)
Genre :	Red antelopes
Scientific name
	Hippotragus
	Sundevall , 1846

Roan antelope

The bluebock is already extinct today

Horse antelopes or horse rams ( Hippotragus ) are a genus of antelopes occurring in Africa in the family of horned bearers (Bovidae) with three species, one of which is already extinct.

features

The genus Hippotragus is characterized by the fact that both sexes have long, curved horns. The horns are usually 51 to 102 cm long when fully developed, but can measure 152 cm in exceptional cases. The animals reach a weight of 150 to 300 kg, a head-trunk length of 1.88-2.67 m, a tail length of 37 to 76 cm and a shoulder height of 1 to 1.6 m, the males about one and a half times are longer and heavier than the females. In general, the color is bluish-gray in the bluebock , pale reddish-brown in the roan antelope and chestnut brown to black in the sable antelope . The underside is white. The horse-like animals have a strong and often upright mane.

distribution and habitat

Horse antelopes occur in diverse habitats, whereby the horse antelope is more likely to be found in open grasslands and the sable antelope in wooded areas. Their distribution area extends from central and eastern Africa to South Africa . The blue goat once lived in the continent's Cape region, but died out around 1800.

Systematics

The genus Hippotragus includes three species:

Roan antelope ( Hippotragus equinus ( Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , 1803))
† Bluebuck ( Hippotragus leucophaeus ( Pallas , 1766))
Sable antelope ( Hippotragus niger ( Harris , 1838); in some cases the East African sable antelope ( H. n. Roosevelti ) and the giant sable antelope ( H. n. Variani ) are separate species)

literature

DE Wilson, DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .

Individual evidence

^ Murray Wrobel: Elsevier's dictionary of mammals: in Latin, English, German, French and Italian. Elsevier Science & Technology, 2006, ISBN 0-444-51877-0 , p. 220.
^ ^A ^b ^c Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's mammals of the world, Volume 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 , pp. 1174-1175 Online .
↑ Hippotragus leucophaeus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Antelope Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 6 May, 2006.

Web links

Commons : Hippotragus - collection of images, videos and audio files

[Wrobel-1] Murray Wrobel: Elsevier's dictionary of mammals: in Latin, English, German, French and Italian. Elsevier Science & Technology, 2006, ISBN 0-444-51877-0 , p. 220.

[Nowak-2] A ^b ^c Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's mammals of the world, Volume 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 , pp. 1174-1175 Online .

[IUCN-3] Hippotragus leucophaeus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Antelope Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 6 May, 2006.