Gazelle facts for kids

Gazelle
	Thomson's gazelle
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Eutheria
Superorder:	Laurasiatheria
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Antilopinae
Genus:	Eudorcas; Günther, 1884

A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera.

Gazelles are known as swift animals. Some are able to run at bursts as high as 100 km/h (60 mph) or run at a sustained speed of 50 km/h (30 mph). Gazelles are found mostly in the deserts, grasslands, and savannas of Africa; but they are also found in southwest and central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. They tend to live in herds, and eat less coarse, easily digestible plants and leaves.

Gazelles are rather small antelopes, most standing 60–110 cm (2–3.5 ft) high at the shoulder, and are generally fawn-colored.

Most gazelle species are considered threatened to varying degrees. Closely related to the true gazelles are the Tibetan and Mongolian gazelles (species of the genus Procapra), the blackbuck of Asia, and the African springbok.

One widely familiar gazelle is the African species Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsoni), which is around 60 to 80 cm (24 to 31 in) in height at the shoulder and is coloured brown and white with a distinguishing black stripe. The males have long, often curved, horns. Like many other prey species, Tommies and springboks (as they are familiarly called) exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting (running and jumping high before fleeing) when they are threatened by predators, such as cheetahs.

Species

The gazelles are divided into three genera and numerous species.

Genus	Common and binomial names	Range
Gazella	Arabian gazelle G. arabica	Arabian Peninsula
	Cuvier's gazelle G. cuvieri	Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia
	Dorcas gazelle G. dorcas	North and saharan Africa, Sinai and Israel
	Goitered gazelle G. subgutturosa	Northern Azerbaijan, eastern Georgia, part of Iran, parts of Iraq and southwestern Pakistan, southeastern Turkey, Afghanistan and the Gobi Desert
	Chinkara or Indian gazelle G. bennettii	Iran, Pakistan and India
	Mountain gazelle G. gazella	Israel, the Golan Heights, and Turkey
	Rhim gazelle G. leptoceros	Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan
	Speke's gazelle G. spekei	Horn of Africa
	Neumann's gazelle G. erlangeri	Arabian Peninsula
	†Saudi gazelle G. saudiya	Arabian Peninsula
Eudorcas	Mongalla gazelle E. albonotata	Floodplain and savanna of South Sudan
	Red-fronted gazelle E. rufifrons	The Sahel region of central Africa
	†Red gazelle E. rufina	Mountain areas of North Africa
	Thomson's gazelle E. thomsoni	East Africa
Nanger	Dama gazelle N. dama	Sahara desert and the Sahel
	Grant's gazelle N. granti	Northern Tanzania to South Sudan and Ethiopia, and from the Kenyan coast to Lake Victoria
	Soemmerring's gazelle N. soemmerringii	Horn of Africa