ANTELOPE, Antilope, a genus of mammalia belonging to the order of ruminants (q.v.), and to the hollow-horned section of that order—in which the-horns consist of an elastic sheath surrounding a bony process of the skull, and are permanent, not annually renewed. The antelopes have the bony nucleus of the horns solid, not occupied, as in those of goats, sheep, and oxen, to a considerable extent, with cells communicating with the frontal sinuses. They are also distinguished from the allied genus of goats by having the chin beardless, and from them and sheep by the horns not being longitudinally angled or ridged. The horns of antelopes are, however, very generally annulated, or surrounded with thickened rings. The body is slender and deer-like, the feet small and elegant, the tail short and tufted, the hair generally short, and the color often lively. Some species, however, have comparatively long hair; and a few which inhabit cold mountainous i regions are clothed with wool intermixed with longer and coarser hair, particularly the chamois (q.v.) of the Alps, Caucasus, etc.; the Rocky mountain goat (q.v.) of Rorth America; and the"eldru (q.v,) of the Himalayas. Many species have infra-orbital sinuses or tear:pita like deer (q.v.). The females of many species, as of deer, are destitute of horns; and if they alone came under observation, it would be difficult to say to which gbnus they belonged. The size is very various; the guevei or pigmy A. of Africa (A. pygnmea) is only 8 to 9 in. high at the shoulders, whilst the largest species measure 5 or 6 feet. Almost all the species of antelopes are peaceable, timid animals, and are distin guished by their agility and fleetness. Most of them are gregarious. Sonie inhabit plains; others are found only in the most inaccessible mountainous regions; whilst others dwell in jungles and deep forests. North America possesses two or three species, which depart considerably, as does also the chamois of Europe, from the typical character of the genus. Europe produces only the chamois and the saiga (A. saaga), the colus of Strabo, which inhabits the southern plains of Poland and Russia. Asia has a greater number of species; but they are most numerous in Africa, and particularly in south Africa. The known species amount to more than eighty, which are arranged in sections or groups according to the peculiarities of the horns and other characters, but a satisfactory classi fication of them is difficult. Some naturalists make a family of antilopece, and subdivide it into genera, but they are not separated by sufficiently marked characters. The flesh of all antelopes is used as food; hence they are much objects of the chase. They furnish also great part of the subsistence of beasts of prey in Africa, where some of the species exist in such numbers that, particularly when severe drought occurs in the regions which they ordinarily inhabit, dense and multitudinous herds occasionally appear in the interior of Cape Colony, to the terrible devastation of the crops. Even the saigas of the Tatarian plains congregate in herds of many thousands in the end of autumn.
The name A. is sometimes more particularly restricted to a species also known as the common or Indian A., and as the sasin. It is a native of India and the eastern parts of Asia, and is a beautiful animal, about 2f ft. high at the shoulder, with erect, diverg ing horns, bent in a spiral of two or three turns. The hair is uniformly short, except that, as in many other species of A., there are small tufts of bristles on the knees. It inhabits open plains, and the herds exercise great watchfulness. Its fleetness is such that greyhounds chase it in vain; and it can easily bound over an inclosure of 11 ft. in height, or over a distance of 10 or 12 yards The flesh is held in small esteem, and the animal is less than many of its congeners an object of the chase.—The saiga is a much less graceful animal; its horns are short, and, as in many of this genus, curved first out wards and then inwards, so that the whole outline formed by them resembles that of a lyre. They are used by the Russians and•Chinese for the manufacture of many articles
of domestic economy; and it is chiefly for their sake and that of the skin that the saiga is hunted, the flesh having a disagreeable taste, which is ascribed to the saline and aro matic plants of the steppes. The dzeren (A. gutturosa), sometimes called the Chinese A., and known among the Chinese by a name which signifies the yellow goat, is an inhabi tant of the arid deserts of central Asia, the flesh of which is highly esteemed, and which is therefore a chief object of the chase in these regions. It derives its specific name from a large movable goitre-like protuberance on the throat of the old males, produced by a dilatation of the larynx.—The addax, or Nubian A. (A. addax), which was known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Pliny, has horns very similar to those of the Indian A., but is a larger animal, less graceful, with a slight mane on the neck, .a tuft of long hair on the forehead, and large broad hoofs, adapted for treading on fine and loose sands. It inhabits the deserts of central Africa, and, contrary to the usual habits of the genus, is said not to be gregarious, but to live in pairs. The chikara and sonic other Indian species are distinguished by two additional rudimentary horns in front of the ordinary horns, and immediately over the orbits. The chikara inhabits thick forests and jungles. Like the addax, it lives in pairs; as do also the stein-boc (q.v.) of south Africa, an extremely graceful species; and the kleene-boc of the same country (A, perptailla)', a beautiful and active little creature, with very small horns. The kleene-boc is of a mild and gentle disposition, and extremely capable of domestication. The gazelle (q.v.) of north Africa (A. doreas), one of the species .known to the ancients, is very frequently domesticated; and from its gracefulness of form, its gentleness of manners, and its bright black eyes, has afforded to the Arabian poets one of their most favorite objects of corn Varison. The south African spring-boc (q.v.) is another very beautiful species, and is frequently domesticated by the colonists at the cape of Good Hope. Among the numer ous species which that country produces may be mentioned :also the blauw-boc (A, leueoplueus); the riet-boc (A. arundinaceus); and the Caffrarian oryx (q.v.), (A. oryx), which somewhat resembles, but is quite distinct from, the oryx of the ancients (A. leueoryx or A. gazella), also called the algazel, a native of the countries on both sides of the Red sea. Still more worthy of notice among the south African species, but in some measure departing from the strict A. type, is the eland (q.v.), the largest of all the antelopes—an animal which may yet probably be found very valuable in domestica tion. The kudu. (q.v.) is another noble species, allied to the eland. The nyl-gliau (q.v.) of India, and the gnu (q.v.) of south Africa, are also among the largest antelopes, but depart still further from the generic type, particularly the latter, so that a separate genus (catoblepas) has been constituted for it, having better claims to be recognized than the other genera into which it has been proposed that the antelopes should be divided. Less different from the ordinary type, but still with a marked approach to a bovine appearance, are the ,bribalus (q.v.) of the. ancients, a native of the north of Africa, the Arabic name of which signifies ox, and the kaama (q.v.) or hartebeest of the cape of Good Hope, which is nearly allied to it. The prong-horn (q. v) and the Rocky mountain goat (q.v.) are the best known North American species; and bbtli are found only in the western parts of the continent. It has been proposed to introduce the latter, as a wool-bearing animal, into the highlands of Scotland.