The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 3 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
The first notice of the existence of a species of this form in
North-eastern Africa appears to have been given by Lichtenstein,
who read a paper on the Antelopes of Northern Africa before the
Academy of Sciences of Berlin on March 11th, 1824. Amongst the four
Antelopes discussed in this learned treatise, which was mainly based
upon the specimens sent to the Royal Collections by the well-known
travellers Hemprich and Ehrenberg from Dongola and Sennaar, were
several representatives of the present species which Lichtenstein not
unnaturally referred to the _Antilope dama_ of Pallas. The same
course was pursued by Hemprich and Ehrenberg themselves, who shortly
afterwards published full descriptions and figures of it in their
‘Symbolæ Physicæ.’ They inform us that they met with specimens of this
Antelope in Southern Dongola in the month of July 1822, and hunted it
along with the Addax and Leucoryx, which occurred in the same district.
They found it plentiful in herds and easy of access, even without the
use of horses. Like the other species mentioned, it feeds principally
on the acacias. They did not meet with this Antelope until they arrived
at 20° N. lat. going south, after which they found it abundant. The
Arabs, who much esteem the flesh and sell it when dried, call it
“_Addra_.” It did not appear to approach the banks of the Nile,
but kept entirely to the desert and to the valleys which traverse it,
especially to the Chor-el-Lebben.
Not far from the same date another distinguished German traveller
and naturalist, Rüppell, whose name we have already had frequent
occasion to mention, also met with this Antelope. Rüppell sent his
specimens to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where they were described and
figured by Cretzschmar on the part of the Senckenbergian Society of
Naturalists in 1826. Cretzschmar also referred these specimens to
_Antilope dama_; but Hamilton Smith, after examining them in
the Senckenbergian Museum, came to the correct conclusion that they
belonged to a different species, on which he proposed to bestow the
name _Antilope ruficollis_. We must therefore use _Gazella
ruficollis_ as the correct scientific designation of this animal.
A third German naturalist, Heuglin, who has recorded his experiences
of this species, tells us that he met with it, generally in pairs or
small families, and often mixed up with herds of other Gazelles, in
the desert districts of Dongola and Kordofan, where it is known to the
Arabs as the “Adra” or “Ledra.” From this native name, Bennett, in his
memoir on _Gazella mhorr_, to which we shall presently refer,
proposed to call the present species _Antilope addra_, but, as has
been already stated, Hamilton Smith’s name has precedence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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