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 Thibetan Antelope is considerably larger than the Indian
Antelope, and somewhat more heavily made; its remarkable thick
coat of closely set brittle hairs also tending to increase its
apparent bulk. The color is a light fawn, varying in shade on
different parts of the body, and tending almost to white in old
buck. The legs are dark-colored, and the faces of very old males
are nearly black. The muzzle is very curious; instead of being
fine and compressed, as is the case with most deer and antelope,
it is considerably enlarged and puffy-looking; so much so,
that properly stuffed heads are generally supposed by persons
unacquainted with the animal to be failures of the taxidermist.
“The horns are, perhaps, the most graceful of those of any
antelope: set close together at the base, they diverge in
an easy curve for about two-thirds of their length, and
then converging more abruptly, approach each other, in some
specimens, within three or four inches at the tips. Out of
twenty-five that I have shot I have never seen a pair above
twenty-four and a half inches, but considerably longer specimens
are to be obtained, and I have recently heard of a pair
twenty-eight and a half inches. The horns are jet-black, of very
fine grain, with a small central core, and being deeply notched
on their anterior surface, they form perfect knife-handles and
sword-hilts. When seen in profile, the forward inclination of
the horns has a curious effect, the two appearing like a single
horn; which has given rise to the belief that the Thibetan
Antelope is the Tchirou or Unicorn Antelope mentioned by the
Abbé Hue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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