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Species living in forests, woodland, or bush tend to be sedentary, but many of the plains species undertake long migrations. These enable grass-eating species to follow the rains and thereby their food supply. The gnus and gazelles of East Africa perform some of the most impressive mass migratory circuits of all mammals. [11]
The name "nyala" is the Tsonga name for this antelope, which is likely the source of the English, along with Zulu inyala. [5] Its first known use was in 1899. The word has a Bantu origin, similar to the Venda word dzì-nyálà (nyala buck). [6] The nyala is the second taxon to branch off from the tragelaphine family tree just after the lesser kudu.
A sturdy thin-legged antelope, the nilgai is characterised by a sloping back, a deep neck with a white patch on the throat, a short mane of hair behind and along the back ending behind the shoulder, and around two white spots each on its face, ears, cheeks, lips and chin. [7] The ears, tipped with black, are 15–18 cm (5.9–7.1 in) long. [2]
It is a sexually dimorphic antelope, with the males nearly 7% taller than females and around 8% longer. [3] The head-and-body length is typically 177–235 cm (70–93 in) and the typical height is 120–136 cm (47–54 in). [11] Males reach approximately 127 cm (50 in) at the shoulder, while females reach 119 cm (47 in).
Blackbuck prefer grass. The blackbuck is a herbivore and grazes on low grasses, occasionally browsing as well. It prefers sedges, fall witchgrass, mesquite, and live oak and was occasionally observed browsing on acacia trees in the Cholistan Desert. [25] Oats and berseem were found to be palatable and nutritious to captive populations. [44]
Grant's gazelle (Nanger granti) is a relatively large species of gazelle antelope, distributed from northern Tanzania to South Sudan and Ethiopia, and from the Kenyan coast to Lake Victoria. [3] Its Swahili name is swala granti. [4] It was named for a 19th-century Scottish explorer, James Grant. [5]
The common eland (Taurotragus oryx), also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a large-sized savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. An adult male is around 1.6 m (5.2 ft) tall at the shoulder and can weigh up to 942 kg (2,077 lb) with a typical range of 500–600 kg (1,100–1,300 lb).
A male bongo eating grass at Louisville Zoo. Like many forest ungulates, bongos are herbivorous browsers and feed on leaves, bushes, vines, bark (bark and pith of rotting trees, grasses/herbs, roots, cereals, and fruits. Bongos require salt in their diets, and are known to regularly visit natural salt licks.