ANTELOPE (Greek, antholops, a horned animal), an animal of the sub-family Anti /opine, placed between the cattle and the goats in the family Bovide. Its members are all short-haired, lightly and gracefully built and carry their heads uplifted; in size they vary from that of a kid to the height of a tall horse, and almost all are timid and fleet-footed. Pop ularly, the antelopes include such widely vary ing species as the goat-antelopes (the chamois and the Rocky Mountain goat) at one extreme, and at the other the American prong-horn which has branched deciduous horns; but scientifically both these extreme forms must be excluded, and the term confined to Asian and African species having horns present in both sexes, the cores of which are solid, and which tend to grow upward rather than out ward.
Antelopes have been pronounced the most generalized of the living Bovidce, and conse quently are regarded as representing the form from which the other types within the family have descended. Their earliest fossil remains are found in the Miocene, when they flourished all over Europe and Asia, and their migration into Africa seems to have been comparatively recent. When Africa was first explored by Europeans, however, they were established there and had so enormously multiplied as to be the chief resource for meat of the natives and of carnivorous animals. Colonization so wasted and scattered them, however, during the latter part of the 19th century, that some species are already extinct, and others would be except for preservation on private estates.
Antelopes may be ranged in certain groups, such as the antelopine gazelles, including many species which are beautiful in form but do not often exceed 30 inches in height, with goat like teeth, hairy muzzles and ringed horns, usually either spiral or lyre-shaped. This group inhabits deserts from the Cape of Good Hope in India, and among• them are the ariel and other gazelles, the springbok, the black buck of India, the saiga and various others. Another, the cervicaprine group, contains the little African reedbuck, the small klipspringer and rehbok, the tiny steinbok and the larger waterbucks, etc. A third group comprises sev eral African forest-ranging species, among others the pygmy antelope, only 13 inches tall and the smallest known ruminant. Another group is far larger and has many of the char acteristics of cattle, while still another section diverges toward the goats. The largest, most beautiful and valuable group of all is that which contains the Indian nilgai and the Af rican bushbuck and eland.
There is an erroneous notion abroad that antelopes all live in large bands, or even vast herds, that roam over flat plains and perform migrations in large bodies from one place to another as scarcity of food and the weather compel them. Instead of this uniformity, how ever, there exists great variety in size, shape, color, speed, agility and habits in adaptation to the varied circumstances in which they live.
Some dwell altogether in mountains and are as expert in climbing about the rocks as are the goats. Others frequent forests and rarely leave their shade. Still others remain entirely among hills where dense thickets cover the rough surface and dart in and out among the bushes so rapidly and expertly that the sports man finds the greatest difficulty in getting a shot at them. Aquatic antelopes exist, espe cially in south Africa, where certain kinds, as for example, the reedbucks, spend nearly all their time in marshes, wading and swimming about and feeding upon aquatic vegetation. It is indeed only the larger, stronger and better armed kinds that can endure existence in plains where they have little means of protection against leopards, lions and other enemies, and must trust entirely to escape by flight or by being overlooked. The result has been the development among them of great speed, but this has not been accompanied by endurance, since few are required or are able to continue to run swiftly any great distance. As an aid to their safety, nature has developed in the desert- and plain-dwelling species an adapta tion in color to their surroundings, making them almost invisible when lying down or standing against the rock and thicket. As a rule their coats have the dull colors of a plains landscape, the only somewhat conspicuous markings being those upon the face and tail, which serve the purpose of arecogniuon marks but are not sufficiently large to attract atten tion at any great distance. Sometimes this protective color of antelopes is very striking, as in the case of the red hartbeest of east Africa which frequents the open country where the soil is rust-red and termite hills are ex ceedingly numerous. It is said that the most experienced hunters are constantly deceived by the exact resemblance between one of these antelopes when lying down and an ant-hill.
The flesh of most antelopes is regarded as excellent food and some of them yield meat that is most delicate eating. The hides of the larger ones make good leather, and the de struction which has overtaken the race in South Africa has been brought about mainly by hide-hunters. The horns were put to many uses by the native Africans and Asiatics and are still in demand for the making of fancy handles and other articles of ornament.
For additional information see BLACKBUCK • GAZELLE; GNU; HARTBEEST; PRONGBTJCK and other names of groups and species in this family. Consult also the general natural his tories; Schmidt, 'Mammalia' (New York 1886) ; Flower and Lydekker, 'Mammals, Liv ing and Extinct) (London 1891) ; Sclater and Thomas, 'Book of Antelopes' (4 vols., qto., col. plates, London 1894-1900) ; Beddard, 'Mammalia' (New York 1902) ; Ingersoll, 'Life of Mammals' (New York 1906).