Threats
habitat alteration,
agricultural expansion, competition from domestic stock, excessive hunting
STATUS:
IUCN -- ENDANGERED
SIZE:
Weight:
88-187 pounds
(40-85 kg)
Height
48 inches
(122 cm)
CONSERVATION:
CITES trade restrictions
This Egyptian wall painting shows the domestication of desert gazelles
was attempted during Middle Kingdom times
(c. 1900 B.C.).
In Africa, grasslands and deserts that were once considered too marginal to support very many people are now being transformed into farmlands through irrigation and other
modern agricultural methods. This pattern is being repeated in many
of the world's drylands,
as fragile ecosystems
are increasingly stressed
by expanding
human activities.
|
Antelope Country
"Antelope" is a name applied to a wide array of African bovids, including gazelles, impalas, and oryxes, among others. Antelopes share similar body builds and horn structures, although their horns take many different shapes. The most common image of these animals is one of great herds grazing in rich grasslands. In fact, antelopes live in many environments in Africa and the Middle East, but as these environments are swiftly transformed by human activities, more and more antelope species face increasingly severe challenges.
The dama gazelle is a good example of an antelope adapted to arid habitats like the Libyan Desert. They are small, graceful animals, renowned for their ability to go for long periods without water. As a group, gazelles were once the most common hoofed animals in desert and bushland regions from Morocco to China. Now many species are rare or vanishing because habitat alteration, overhunting, and overgrazing by domestic stock has fragmented their ranges and isolated populations from one another. Damas once ranged from western Sahara to Sudan and were common in Libya, Morocco, and Senegal. Today they're virtually extinct in North Africa. About 2,500 of them are holding on in the Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, and Niger, but their future does not look promising. Several dama subspecies are already gone from the wild, existing only in captivity.
|
