The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 2 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
_Adenota thomasi_, =Neumann=, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 192.
_Cobus kob_, =Scott Elliot=, P. Z. S. 1895, p. 341 (Lake
Albert-Edward).
VERNACULAR NAME:--_Nsunnu_ or _Nsunu_ of the Waganda (_Speke_,
_Lugard_, _&c_.).
Size about as in _C. leucotis_, but form thicker and heavier
(height at withers of an adult male 35½ inches). General colour rich
fulvous. Area round eyes and another round bases of ears whitish; back
of ears fulvous, with an indistinct tipping of black; hairs of inner
surface of ears white. Muzzle, lips, chin, chest, belly, and inner
sides of forearms and thighs white. Front of fore legs from middle of
forearms downwards with a strongly defined black line, which broadens
at the knees and pasterns; hind legs with a similar black mark, but
only reaching up from the hoofs halfway towards the hocks. Remainder of
limbs fulvous, an indistinct whitish ring just above the hoof; back of
pasterns thickly hairy.
Horns thick and strongly curved, attaining a length of about 17 or 18
inches.
_Female_ similar, but without horns.
Skull measurements (♂):--Basal length 10·4 inches, greatest breadth
4·6, orbit to muzzle 6·3.
_Hab._ Kavirondo and Uganda.
Thomas’s Kob, as it has been lately proposed to call the representative
of this group of Antelopes in Kavirondo, Uganda, and the adjoining
districts of Africa, after one of the authors of the present work, has
been known for many years; but it has been unfortunately confounded
with _Cobus leucotis_, _C. vardoni_, and _C. kob_, and has only been
recently recognized as a distinct species. Although not unlike the
White-eared Antelope, it is really much more nearly allied to the Kob
of West Africa, of which it is in fact a larger form. From the Poku
(_Cobus vardoni_) it is at once distinguishable by its black legs.
The first specimens of Thomas’s Kob that reached England were two heads
brought home by Speke on his return from his celebrated East-African
expedition in 1863. These were examined by Sclater, and in his
report on the Mammals of the expedition (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103) were
erroneously referred to _C. leucotis_. But a re-examination of one
of the specimens, which is now in the British Museum, has convinced us
that it is undoubtedly referable to the present species. Speke remarks
that this Antelope, of which the native name is “Nsunnu,” is “found in
Uganda, Unyoro, and Madi, but never south of those countries. They roam
about in large herds in the thick bush and grassy plains, but never go
far from water.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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