Eland
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Eland antelope ( Taurotragus oryx ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Taurotragus | ||||||||||||
| Wagner , 1855 |
The eland antelopes ( Taurotragus ) form an antelope genus from the family of horned bearers (Bovidae). There are two species that both live in Africa:
- Giant eland ( Taurotragus derbianus ( Gray , 1847))
- Eland ( Taurotragus oryx ( Pallas , 1766))
Eland antelopes are among the largest antelopes, they reach a head-torso length of up to 3.5 meters, a shoulder height of up to 1.8 meters and a weight of 400 to 1000 kilograms. They have a massive, bulky body with relatively slender limbs and a long tail. A dewlap in front of the throat reaching to the chest is characteristic . The species differ mainly in the color of their fur, which is reddish-brown in the giant eland and rather gray-brown in the common eland. Both types have narrow, white horizontal stripes. Despite its name, the giant eland is no larger, but has longer horns.
Both sexes of the eland have tightly twisted horns, which in the giant eland can be up to 1.2 meters long.
The genus Tragelaphus , which includes nyalas, kudus and bongos, is systematically its closest relatives; sometimes the eland are even included in this genus. The two genera differ, in addition to their dimensions, in that the animals of the Tragelaphus species - with the exception of the bongo - have a shorter tail and only the males have horns. Both genera form the tribe of the Tragelaphini, which is counted within the horn-bearers to the subfamily of the Bovinae .
For more details see under the two articles.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
