The book of antelopes, vol. 4 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 4 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
The most striking difference between the two species consists in the
development of the hairs on the tips of the ears in _O. callotis_
so as to form a long black tuft; in _O. beisa_ the hairs at the
extremity of the ear are scarcely longer than those covering the
adjacent edges of that organ. Lastly, in _O. callotis_, the hairs
along the median dorsal line are reversed in direction of growth from
a point, only a little behind the middle of the back; whereas in _O.
beisa_ the parting is situated on the rump.
_Hab._ British East Africa, south of the River Tana, and
interior of German East Africa.
Southwards of the River Tana in British East Africa, or thereabouts,
the Beisa appears to be replaced by a nearly allied form,
distinguishable by the conspicuous tufts which adorn the tips of
its ears and by other less noticeable characters. It will be easily
understood that this animal was not at once distinguished from the
typical form by those who first met with it, and was consequently
referred to “_Oryx beisa_” by Mr. Hunter in his Appendix
to Willoughby’s ‘Big Game in East Africa,’ and by other earlier
authorities.
It was not, in fact, until 1892 that the conspicuous difference of
this species from _O. beisa_, as regards its ears, attracted
notice, when Mr. Rowland Ward, F.Z.S., first called Thomas’s attention
to it. Thomas, after examining into the subject, brought it before
the notice of the Zoological Society of London on March 15th of that
year, and proposed to call the new form _Oryx callotis_. Thomas’s
communication was subsequently printed in the Society’s ‘Proceedings’
accompanied by a good coloured figure of the mounted head of the
typical specimen, which was subsequently presented by Messrs. Rowland
Ward and Co. to the British Museum.
As will be seen by reference to Mr. Rowland Ward’s ‘Records of Big
Game,’ the horns of this typical specimen are among the shortest of
the series of 18 specimens of this species of which measurements are
there given, the longest pairs being over 30 inches in length. These
latter are, no doubt, those of females, which in all the species of
_Oryx_ seem to be rather longer and thinner than those of males.
In the first volume of ‘Big Game Shooting’ in the ‘Badminton
Library,’ Mr. F. J. Jackson gives us the following account of _Oryx
callotis_ in British East Africa:—
“The East African Oryx is known to the Swahilis as ‘Cheroa.’ The
Cheroa is found in the Kilimanjaro district in greater numbers
(particularly near Useri) than elsewhere. It is also plentiful in
the Galla country, between the Sabaki and Tana rivers, and I have
myself seen it within a mile of the sea at Merereni.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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