GENUS III. CONNOCHÆTES.
| Type. | |
| Connochætes, Licht. Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 152 (1814) | C. gnu. |
| Cemas, Oken, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. Zool. pt. ii. p. 727 (1816) | C. gnu. |
| Catoblepas, Ham. Sm. Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 366 (1827) | C. gnu. |
| Gorgon, Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 139 | C. taurinus. |
| Butragus, Bly. apud Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872) | C. taurinus. |
Size large, form thick and clumsy; the withers not disproportionately higher than the rump; head massive, with a broad and bristly muzzle; face with a large median tuft of thick black hairs uniting the suborbital tufts; nostrils widely separated, hairy within; neck maned; hoofs narrow; tail with its tuft reaching nearly to the ground, long-haired throughout; mammæ four.
Colour grey, brown, or black, the long hairs of the dorsal and throat manes and of the tail generally black, sometimes white.
Skull broad and heavy, not specially elongated; ends of premaxillæ expanded.
Horns present in both sexes; thickened and expanded at their bases; starting outwards or downwards for their proximal halves, their points abruptly curved upwards.
Range of the Genus. South and East Africa.
This genus, that of the curious and eccentric-looking animals known as Gnus, contains two very different sections, almost worthy of being considered distinct genera. One of these consists of two closely allied forms, the Brindled and White-maned Gnu, and the other of the White-tailed or “Common” Gnu, the most peculiar and specialized of all. Their differences may be summarized as follows:—
| A. Hairs of facial tuft pointing downwards. Horns directed firstoutwards and then upwards. Tail black. | |
| a. Throat-mane black | 1. C. taurinus. |
| b. Throat-mane whitish | 2. C. albojubatus. |
| B. Hairs of facial tuft pointing upwards. Horns directed first downwards,and then recurved upwards. Tail white | 3. C. gnu. |
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XI.
Wolf del. Smit lith.
Hanhart imp.
The Brindled Gnu.
CONNOCHÆTES TAURINUS.
Published by R. H. Porter
16. THE BRINDLED GNU.
CONNOCHÆTES TAURINUS (Burch.).
[PLATE XI.]
Antilope gnu, var., Licht. Mag. nat. Freund. Berlin, vi. p. 166 (?).
Kokoon, Daniell, Afr. Scenery, p. 37 (1820).
Antilope taurina, Burchell, Travels, ii. p. 278 (1824); id. List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 7 (1825) (Maadji Mts.); Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 476 (1829); Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 447 (1845); Gieb. Säug. p. 299 (1859).
Catoblepas taurinus, Ham. Sm. Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 369, v. p. 368 (1827); Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 642 (1830); Smuts, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 94 (1832); A. Sm. S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 233 (1834); Less. Compl. Buff. x. p. 305 (1836); Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); Sund. Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 205 (1846); id. ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 156; Reprint, p. 80 (1848); A. Sm. Ill. Zool. S. Afr. pl. xxxviii. (♀ & yg.) (1849) Fitz. SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 182 (1869); Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 290, fig. (animal) (1880).
Catoblepas gorgon, Ham. Sm. Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 371, v. p. 369 (1827); Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 643 (1830); A. Sm. S. Afr. Quart. J. ii. p. 233 (1834); Less. Compl. Buff. x. p. 306 (1836); Harris, Wild Anim. S. Afr. pl. iv. (1840); Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); id. Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 139; id. Knowsl. Men. p. 20 (1850); Temm. Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853); Sclater, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103 (Uzaramo, Speke); Kirk, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 660 (Zambesia); Fitz. loc. cit.; Drummond, Large Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875); Selous, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 764 (distribution); id. Hunter’s Wanderings S. Afr. p. 226 (1881); Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, p. 293 (1889).
Antilope gorgon, Wagn. Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 474 (1844), v. p. 448 (1855); Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 446 (1845); Peters, Säug. Mozamb. p. 192 (1852).
Connochætes gorgon, Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 121 (1852); Gerr. Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243 (1862).
Gorgon fasciatus, Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872); id. Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 114 (1873).
“Butragus corniculatus, Blyth, MS.,” Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872).
Connochætes gnu, Hunter, in Willoughby’s East Africa, p. 288.
Connochætes taurinus, Scl. List An. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883); Flow. & Gars. Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 275 (1884); Jent. Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139 (1887); Crawshay, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 663 (Nyasa); Flow. & Lyd. Mamm. p. 336 (1891); Nicolls & Egl. Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 47, pl. iii. fig. 8 (head) (1892); Ward, Horn Meas. p. 72, fig. (horns) (1892); Jent. Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 170 (1892); Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 205, fig. 42 (head) (1893).
Catoblepas reichei, Noack, Zool. Anz. 1893, p. 153 (Upper Limpopo).
Vernacular Names:—Blue Wildebeest of English colonists (Selous); Bastard or Blauw Wildebeeste of Dutch colonists (Harris); Kokoong of Bachapins (Burchell); Kokoon of Bechuanas (Harris); Nyumbo in Zambesia (Peters & Kirk); Kaop and Baas of Namaquas and Hottentots (Harris); Imbutuma of Kaffirs (Drummond); Ink[=o]ne-kn[=o]e of Matabilis; Ee-vumba of Makalakas; Numbo of Masubias; Minyumbwe of Batongas; Unzozo of Makubas (Selous); Ink[=o]ne-k[=o]ne of Swazis (Rendall).
Height at withers about 48 inches.
Fur short and close, with peculiar vertical lines of differently directed hairs on the sides of the neck and body, whence the epithet “Brindled.” General colour dull grey, lighter and more tinged with rufous on the rump and limbs. Face (except a paler area between the eyes), chin, dorsal and throat manes deep black. Tail long, its vertebræ almost reaching to the hock; its upper surface coloured like the rump, its under surface and the long tuft black.
Lower part of face and lacrymal region heavily tufted, the hairs directed downwards; the short ones of the terminal inch on the tip of the muzzle, however, pointed upwards.
Skull large and heavy, with a long muzzle. That of an old male measures as follows:—basal length 18·1 inches, greatest breadth 7·7, muzzle to orbit 13·3.
Horns placed so that the hinder edge of their palm is little more than level with the back of the skull; the palm itself comparatively low, smooth, small in comparison with the enormous palm of C. gnu. Beyond the palm the basal two-thirds of the horn points directly outwards, while the ends are curved upwards, forwards, and inwards. A fine pair of horns will measure 26 or 28 inches between the outer sides of the curves of the two horns.
Hab. Eastern Africa, from the Vaal River northwards through Zambesia, Nyasaland, and German East Africa to the north of Kilimanjaro.
The Brindled Gnu, although, as it seems, previously observed by Lichtenstein in Bechuanaland, was first actually obtained by the celebrated African traveller Burchell, who went far into the interior of the country in 1811 and 1812. In June of the latter year, when encamped at the great Khosi Fountain in Bechuanaland, as he tells us in the second volume of his ‘Travels,’ an example of a “new species of Antelope” was brought in by his hunters. Being well acquainted with the White-tailed Gnu of the Cape Colony, Burchell at once recognized it as a second species of that genus. Burchell pointed out its differences from its southern representative very clearly, and added a scientific Latin diagnosis in a footnote. He called it Antilope taurina, because its horns resembled those of an Ox more than those of any other Antelope. The half-bred Hottentots, he observes, give it the name of the Bastaard Wildebeest, while the Bechuanas call it Kokūn or Kokūng. Altogether Burchell obtained five specimens of this Antelope, one of which (a female), shot in the following October near the Maadji Mountains, was, as we learn from his "List of Quadrupeds,” presented to the British Museum in 1817, and seems to have formed the basis of his technical description.
Two years previous to the actual publication of Burchell’s description, however, the Brindled Gnu had been figured in Daniell’s ‘Sketches of African Scenery’ under the name of the “Kokoon.”
In 1827 Major Charles Hamilton-Smith, F.R.S., in Griffith’s edition of Cuvier’s ‘Animal Kingdom,’ besides recognizing C. gnu and C. taurina, added a presumed third species of the genus, which he based on a specimen then exhibited in the "Museum of the Missionary Society of London." It is quite clear, however, from the description and figure that Hamilton-Smith’s C. gorgon is identical with Burchell’s previously described Antilope taurina, and that the latter term should take precedence, although many naturalists have preferred to use Hamilton-Smith’s name for this species.
Fig. 13.
Adult Brindled Gnu.
(Roy. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 314.)
In 1836 and 1837 the celebrated artist and sportsman, Cornwallis Harris, met with the Brindled Gnu on the plains of what is now the Orange Free State in “countless numbers.” “Instantly after crossing the Orange River,” he tells us, “the Kokoon or Brindled Gnu usurps the place of the White-tailed species, and, although herds of the former may actually be seen grazing on the northern bank, not a single individual has ever been known to pass the barrier.... By the Dutch Boers the present species is termed the Bastaard or Blauw Wilde Beest: throughout the country of the Bechuanas, as far as the Tropic, it is recognized as the Kokoon, and the Hottentot tribes designate it the Kaop or Baas, both of which terms, signifying master, refer, in all probability, to its bold and terrific bearing. When excited by the appearance of any suspicious object, or aroused by any unusual noise, the Kokoon is wont to appear much more grim and ferocious than it actually proves—not unfrequently approaching with an air of defiance, as if resolved to do battle with the hunter, but decamping on the first exhibition of hostility on his part. On being pursued, the herd bring their aquiline noses low between their knees, and flourishing their streaming black tails, tear away in long regular files at a furious gallop, wheeling curiously about at a distance of two or three hundred yards, advancing boldly towards the danger, tossing their shaggy heads in a threatening manner—presently making a sudden stop, presenting an impenetrable front of horns, and staring wildly at the object of their mistrust.... When engaged in grazing they have an extremely dull and clumsy appearance, and at a little distance might often be mistaken for wild buffaloes; but their manner is sportive—at one moment standing to gaze at nothing, and at the next scampering over the plain without any apparent object in view, making grotesque curvets and plunges, with their preposterous Bonassus-looking heads held down between the fore legs.”
In his valuable ‘Illustrations of South-African Zoology,’ Sir Andrew Smith gives an excellent account of this species (published in August 1842), accompanied by an indifferent figure of the female and young. Sir Andrew justly observes that this and the Common Gnu are two of the most interesting and extraordinary quadrupeds which occur in South Africa. “When either the one or other of those animals, especially under excitement, stands in front of an observer, with the head and anterior parts of the body only distinctly visible, the idea of its strong resemblance to a small ox immediately arises. When, again, its body and posterior parts are the portions most conspicuously in view, the likeness to a horse is remarkable; but when its limbs only are taken in review, it presents a strong similarity to the more typical Antelopes.”
At the time when these observations were made both the Gnus, according to Sir Andrew Smith, inhabited, in enormous multitudes, the grassy plains to the northward of the Vaal River, and after the fall of the summer rains were in the habit of advancing simultaneously in large herds as far as the southern branches of the Orange River. But on reaching the latter stream singularly enough the Brindled Gnu ceased to advance, and the Common Gnu alone passed into the Cape Colony. The appearance of the latter to the south of the Orange River was the signal for hunters of all denominations to prepare for the chase, and though the yearly slaughter was very great the herds in those days never ceased to renew their periodical visitations. Strongly expressed as are the views of both Andrew Smith and Harris as to the line of demarcation between the two species of Gnu, there seems to be some doubt as to their correctness. An excellent recent authority, Mr. H. A. Bryden (‘Kloof and Karroo’), tells us that the Brindled Gnu was in former days certainly a “denizen, albeit a rare one, south of the Orange River,” and gives us Gordon-Cumming as an authority. Gordon-Cumming asserts (‘Hunter’s Life in South Africa,’ p. 148) that he met with the Brindled Gnu in the Karroo country west of Colesberg, in what is now the Hopetown division of the Cape Colony. But Mr. Bryden admits that it has now for many years been extinct in that district. In the Transvaal, also, he tells us, the Boers have, of late years, played sad havoc with this singular Antelope, not long ago found in countless thousands on the plains of that Republic.
Messrs. Nicolls and Eglington, in their ‘Sportsman in South Africa,’ tell us the same story. Writing in 1892, they state that, except in some of the northern districts along the Crocodile River, the Brindled Gnu is now extremely scarce in the Transvaal, and practically extinct in the Orange Free State. But it is still met with in Bechuanaland, and is fairly plentiful along the edges of the Great Kalahari Desert. “In the Lake Ngami district, on both banks of the Botletle River, and from thence right up to the Chobe and Zambesi, it is quite common in suitable localities, and, at the present time, large troops may be seen on the Ma-Chara-Chara and Mababe Flats, and in the country surrounding the great salt-pans of Makari-Kari, through which the main road passes to the Victoria Falls.”
So much for the occurrence of this species in the South and South-west of Africa, past and present. But we must now trace its distribution to the north; for it is an extraordinary fact that the Brindled Gnu, instead of being confined, like its sister species, to a small part of South Africa, extends up along the eastern coast certainly as far as Kilimanjaro, and perhaps even into Sennaar, where reports of the occurrence of a Gnu-like Antelope were made to Heuglin. It is, however, possible that some of these northern Gnus may belong to the White-maned species, which we shall presently mention.
Beginning from the Limpopo, Mr. Selous tells us that the Brindled Gnu is found all over this portion of South-eastern Africa up to the Zambesi, in districts suitable to its habits—that is, “in open downs devoid of bush and in open glades in the forest,” but not in hilly countries. Peters and Sir John Kirk both enroll it among the mammals of Zambesia, the latter author stating that at the time of his visit it was “very abundant in considerable herds in the Batoka country, also near Lake Shirwa, and at Shupanga on the Zambesi.” As to its present existence in the Shiré Highlands, Mr. B. L. Sclater, R.E., sends us the following notes.—“In November 1891, while travelling between Zomba and Milanji, I was shooting in the marshes on the west bank of the Tochila. I saw a Gnu and tried to stalk it, but it was right in the open and I could not get near it. My head man, a Swahili, said it was a Gnu (Nyumbo), and he was well acquainted with that animal. Again, in 1892, at Midima, to the south of the Tochila, I obtained a tail of a Gnu from a native, who told me that formerly there was a large herd of them on these plains, but that he thought they were now all killed. I believe that Mr. Sharpe has met with the Gnu on the plains to the west of the Upper Shiré, between Matope and the sources of the Lesungwi River.”
As regards the more northern portion of the British Central African Protectorate, Mr. Crawshay tells us that the Gnu is apparently unknown to the natives round the northern half of Lake Nyasa, and is not met with anywhere in the immediate neighbourhood of the Lake, though found a little to the south-east, and also, he believes, to the south-west.
In 1864 Speke met with the Brindled Gnu in large herds in Khutu, on the western borders of Uzaramo, close to the Kingani River, where it inhabits the “park-like lands adjoining the stream.”
Later on Sir John Kirk obtained heads of it in the same district, and has favoured us with the following notes on its occurrence in this part of German East Africa:—
“As regards the Brindled Gnu in East Africa, I may say that, although familiar with this animal on the Upper Zambezi near the Victoria Falls, where they were common in 1860, I have only since shot them in Ukami, to the west of Dar-es-salam, and on the River Wami inland from Bagomoyo. In the plains and on the rolling ground between the River Rufiji and the River Wami they used to be common. I have shot them within ten miles of the coast, and I believe that they extend back to the foot of the mountains.
“As I was not then acquainted with the species or variety lately found by Jackson, I cannot from memory express any opinion as to the identity of these animals, further than that they seemed to me identical with the Brindled Gnus I had killed years previously near the Victoria Falls and Sesheke on the Upper Zambezi.
“In East Africa, near the coast, in the places above-named where I found this Antelope, it never occurs in numbers, but is often associated as an attendant on other game, especially upon Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. It often causes annoyance to the sportsman by giving warning of his approach to the other Antelopes.
“I believe this Gnu suffered from the recent cattle-disease which during the last four years has decimated the Buffalo, the Giraffe, the Eland, and many other kinds of game, not affecting, however, the Rhinoceros, and certain other animals. This disease seems to have killed off different classes of animals in different localities, attacking universally, wherever it appeared, the cattle of the natives.
“Thousands of hides of cattle that have died of this plague have been freely imported into Europe and America; the disease has travelled from Somali-land to Nyasa-land, and yet we do not know its nature. Some say it is anthrax, others that it is pleuro-pneumonia; but whether it is a disease that can be communicated by the dried hides of the diseased animals has not been ascertained. In Somali-land and Masai-land it has worked itself out, and it may stop short of the Cape Colony and not cross the Zambezi; but in the meantime it has decimated the African Game, and left its mark by changing the whole life of the pastoral peoples who depended on their cattle alone."
In British East Africa the Brindled Gnu (here called by the Swahilis “Nyumbo”) is well-known to the sportsmen who have visited the happy hunting-grounds of Kilimanjaro. Sir John Willoughby and his friends found it principally to the north-east of the mountain “in large herds.” Mr. F. J. Jackson (‘Big Game Shooting’) tells us it is more plentiful in the Useri district to the north-east of Kilimanjaro, and on the Athi plains to the north and west of Machakós, than anywhere else. In the latter place, on August 5, 1890, he and his companions “saw an enormous herd of 1500”; but this was “quite unusual, as they are rarely found in herds of more than from twenty to sixty.” But it is possible that some of Mr. Jackson’s observations may refer to the following species, as when he wrote them he did not distinguish the two animals.
Mr. Jackson gives the following advice to the Gnu-hunter:—“Wildebeests are amongst the most difficult beasts to stalk, owing to the open nature of the country in which they are found, and will probably try the sportsman’s patience more than any other Antelope. They will stand gazing at him, and will sometimes allow him to get within a range of 200 yards, if he pretends to walk past them, though in reality closing in upon them in a semicircle; but directly he stops to take a shot they will shake their heads in the most defiant way, and with a few snorts and flicks of their mule-like tails, kick up their heels and caper off jauntily. As they will, as a rule, pull up a short way off, the sportsman will have the annoyance of again adopting the same tactics, with probably like results, until he might almost believe that the Wildebeest is enjoying itself at his expense. He should, however, avoid risking a long shot (the Wildebeest is an extremely tough brute, and will go for miles when wounded in such a way as would soon bring other game to a standstill), since after two or three fruitless attempts if no shot is fired its suspicions will become allayed, and it will probably stand sufficiently long to give him a good chance.”
The Brindled Gnu is not so commonly met with in Zoological Gardens as the White-tailed species. It is generally considered to be a rarer animal in the market, and the dealers ask a larger price for it. We are informed that a pair of Brindled Gnus bred in the Zoological Gardens at Breslau in 1886 or 1887. The only specimen ever received by the Zoological Society, so far as we can make out, was a female purchased in 1859. In the continental Gardens it has been better represented, and the collections at Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Berlin usually contain specimens of this Antelope. These have been, in many cases, obtained from Mr. Reiche, of Alfeld, who has received several examples of this Gnu among his recent importations of living animals from the Transvaal.
In the British Museum the Brindled Gnu is represented by one of Burchell’s typical examples, as already mentioned, and by an adult male received from Sir Andrew Smith. Both these are mounted specimens. There are likewise a skeleton, obtained by Mr. Selous in Mashonaland in 1885, and a set of skulls and horns in the same collection.
Our Plate of this animal was put on the stone by Mr. Smit from a sketch made by Mr. Wolf. For the use of the woodcut (fig. 13, p. 98), drawn by the celebrated German artist Mützel, we are indebted to the kindness of Messrs. Warne and Co., by whom it has been used in their ‘Royal Natural History’ (vol. ii. p. 314).
January, 1895.
17. THE WHITE-BEARDED GNU.
CONNOCHÆTES ALBOJUBATUS, Thos.
Catoblepas sp. inc., Hengl. Ant. u. Buff. N.O.-Afr., N. Act. Leop. xxx. pt. ii. p. 24 (1868) (Sennaar)?
Connochætes gnu, Hunter, in Willoughby’s E. Afr. p. 288 (1889)?
Connochaætes taurinus albojubatus, Thos. Ann. Mag. N. H. (6) ix. p. 388 (1892); Ward, Horn Meas. p. 75, fig. (head and skull) (1892).
Connochætes taurina, Lugard, E. Afr. i. p. 540, pl. p. 530 (animal) (1893).
Similar in size and coloration to C. taurinus, except that the general tone is paler, especially on the cheeks and rump, and the throat-mane instead of being black is of a dirty yellowish-white colour. A few whitish hairs are also intermixed with the black of the dorsal mane.
The skull is shorter and broader than in C. taurinus, especially in the region of the muzzle, and the horns are placed further back on the head, so that the palm surpasses the back of the skull posteriorly by nearly half its breadth. The palm is also more tipped up behind away from the skull, and is much knobbier, on which account the hinder edge of the horns forms a more serpentine curve.
The dimensions of the typical skull are as follows:—basal length 16 inches, greatest breadth 7·6, muzzle to eye 12·1.
Hab. East Africa, Athi plains, Ukambani, north of Kilimanjaro, and west side of Victoria Nyanza.
As we have already stated, this form, although otherwise agreeing in nearly every point with the Brindled Gnu, is readily distinguishable by its white mane, white jaw-tufts, and the generally paler colour. But whether we ought to classify it as a separate species, or as a subspecies, or only as a variety of the Brindled Gnu future researches only can decide. We know as yet too little of its exact range and mode of occurrence to be able to settle this question, nor is there a sufficient series of specimens available. If it should be found hereafter that beyond a certain boundary in Eastern Africa all the Gnus met with are of the White-bearded form, and that along this line of junction there are transitional forms between this and the ordinary Brindled Gnu, we should do well to allow it merely subspecific rank. If, on the other hand, it shall be found that the White-bearded Gnu occurs side by side with the Brindled Gnu without mixing or interbreeding with that animal, we shall have to count it as a full species.
Fig. 14.
Skull of Connochætes albojubatus, ♂.
Thomas, in 1892, based his Connochætes taurinus albojubatus on a head in Mr. F. J. Jackson’s collection, at that time under the care of Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co., but since kindly presented by Mr. Jackson to the National Collection. Thomas, from erroneous information, gave the locality as “Uganda,” but we have since ascertained that this and another specimen, still in Mr. Jackson’s possession, were obtained on the Athi plains north of Kilimanjaro. Mr. Gedge assures us that no Gnus at all were met with by Mr. Jackson and himself in Uganda.
Mr. Gedge has kindly supplied the following notes on his experiences with the Gnus of British East Africa:—
“Both the Blue Wildebeeste and Jackson’s Wildebeeste are found in British East Africa, and are to be met with in great numbers on the Athi plains north of Ukambani. Of the two, the blue variety is, perhaps, more usually met with, though I would remark that on my upward journey to Uganda, in December 1892, I only encountered a few solitary specimens of the Blue form in a part where they are generally seen in hundreds, whereas on my downward journey, in the month of August of the following year, the same locality was entirely tenanted by Jackson’s Wildebeeste, which on this occasion were so tame that I was able to literally walk right in amongst them and knock them down with a small Winchester. This was really the one and only occasion that I have met with this latter variety in any great numbers. On the other hand, the Blue Wildebeeste will be found more or less commonly distributed over the Leikipia and Mau plateaux. It probably ranges over a very wide extent of country to the northwards, though I cannot remember having seen any Wildebeestes at all north of Lake Baringo. At the same time its non-appearance on the occasion of my visit may doubtless very easily be accounted for by the excessive dryness of the country at that time, and the consequent lack of pasturage. Similarly, I have never seen Gnus anywhere near the Victoria Lake, though possibly other travellers may have done so. The Gnu is an uncouth and ungainly beast in appearance, and, as a rule, will not allow itself to be easily approached. As the open character of the country which it usually frequents more or less precludes any idea of being able to stalk it successfully, the method which I adopted, and which I found answered best, was to walk along quietly parallel to the herd, gradually edging inwards. On such occasions their natural curiosity would often allow a shot to be obtained at a distance of from a hundred and fifty to two hundred yards. Being tough and hard to kill, Gnus must be struck accurately by a weapon with a high degree of penetration. As an illustration of their great vitality, I would mention that on one occasion I had the misfortune to break both the fore legs of one just above the fetlock, and that in spite of these crippling wounds the poor beast was able to cover a distance of nearly half a mile on its stumps before I came sufficiently near to administer the coup-de-grâce. This was in spite of the fact that, in addition to this severe injury, it had received two other solid express bullets in its body, one of which was afterwards discovered to have penetrated the base of the heart. When alarmed the Gnu usually runs but a short distance at a time, at a stiff ungainly gallop, whisking its tail round in the most comical fashion. It then stops and turns to inspect the object of its alarm, at the same time uttering a few snorts. Having satisfied itself of the approaching danger, it will again gallop off and pursue the same tactics several times if unmolested. It is a very harmless and inoffensive animal in spite of its ferocious aspect.”
As regards the Gnus of German East Africa there is the same difficulty. Herr Matschie has kindly sent to Sclater the following notes on this subject:—
“At Berlin we have received from Oscar Neumann several skins and skulls, young and old, of the Gnu [procured during his recent journey northwards from Irangi up the east side of Lake Victoria].
“All of these have white neck-manes and chin-bunches and brownish heads and manes, but in some cases the latter are mixed with white, and the tails are of a similar colour. The body is dirty greyish brown, without a trace of bluish. One old bull shows vertical stripes on the front of the body, the hairs having been worn short.
“The localities are—between Ngera and Irangi; Mount Guerui; Mgogo, north of the Manyara Lake; and further on as far as Ngare Dobasch, where they cease.
“Neumann writes that on Mount Guerui and farther along he observed the two varieties living apart. On the Guerui he saw at the same time a herd of light-coloured Gnus, and a herd varying from bluish black to black, but no transitional forms.”
From Mgogo, Neumann writes:—“By the six skins which I obtained [these skins have not yet arrived in Berlin] I hope to prove that there are two species, or, at any rate, varieties of Gnus—one lilac-black grey, and the other bright yellowish brown. On the Mangoto natron-swamp they kept apart. Here in Mgogo the black form predominates, so that it seems to be the more northern. Of two young examples of about the same age, judging from their horns, one has a black forehead, and the other has two white spots in front of the eyes.
“Von Höhnel and Count Teleki found only grey-black Gnus on Mount Maeru, but these had the neck-manes striped with white and black. On the Naschiri Lake, Teleki first met with a pure white-maned specimen.”
The woodcut of the skull of this Antelope (fig. 14, p. 106) is taken from one of Mr. Jackson’s specimens in the British Museum.
January, 1895.
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XII.
J. Smit del & lith.
Hanhart imp.
The White-tailed Gnu.
CONNOCHÆTES GNU.
Published by R. H. Porter.
18. THE WHITE-TAILED GNU.
CONNOCHÆTES GNU (Zimm.).
[PLATE XII.]
Bos gnou, Zimm. Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 372 (1777).
Antilope gnou, Zimm. Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 102 (1780); Bodd. Elench. Anim. p. 138 (1785); Schr. Säug. pl. cclxxx. (animal) (1787).
Antilope gnu, Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 189 (1788); Kerr, Linn. An. K. p. 315 (1792); Donnd. Zool. Beytr. p. 634 (1792); Link, Beytr. Nat. i. pt. 2, p. 100 (1795); Bechst. Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i. p. 64 (1799), ii. p. 641 (1800); Shaw, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 357, pl. 196 (1801); Turt. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 114 (1802); Desm. N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) ix. p. 516 (1803); G. Cuv. Diet. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 247 (1804); Ill. Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 106 (1811); Licht. Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 165 (1814); G. Fisch. Zoogn. iii. p. 418 (1814); Afzel. N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815); Desm. N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 201 (1816); Goldf. in Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1165 (1820); F. Cuv. H. N. Mamm. (fol.) i. livr. xvi. (animal) (1820); Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 399 (1821); Desmoul. Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822); Burchell, List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 7 (1823); Less. Man. Mamm. p. 385 (1827); Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829); Waterh. Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838); Oken, Allgem. Naturgesch. vii. p. 1400 (1838); Wagn. Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 473 (1844), v. p. 448 (1855); Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 445 (1845); Gieb. Säug. p. 299 (1859).
Antilope capensis, Gatt. Brev. Zool. i. p. 80 (1780).
Bos gnu, Thunb. Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 318 (1811).
Cerophorus (Boselaphus) gnu, Blainv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.
Cemas gnu, Oken, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. pt. 2, p. 728 (1816).
Antilope (Boselaphus) gnu, Desm. Mamm. ii. p. 472 (1822).
Catoblepas gnu, Ham. Sm. Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 367, v. p. 368 (1827); Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 93 (1832); A. Sm. S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 224 (1834); Less. Compl. Buff. x. p. 305 (1836); Harr. Wild Anim. S. Afr. pl. i. (animal) (1840);
Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); id. Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846); id. List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847); Sund. Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 205 (1846); id. ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 156; Reprint, p. 80 (1848); Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 19 (1850); id. P. Z. S. 1850, p. 138; Temm. Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853); Fitz. SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 182 (1869); Murie, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 475; Drummond, Large Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875); Buckley, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 286, 292 (distribution); Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 287 (fig. animal) (1880); Blaauw, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iii. p. 494 (1886) (breeding in Holland); id. P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2, figs. A-D (growth of horns); Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, p. 293 (1889).
Catoblepas operculatus, Brookes, Cat. Mus. p. 64 (1828).
Bos connochætes, Forst. Descr. Anim. p. 392 (1844).
Connochætes gnu, Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 119 (1852); Gerr. Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243 (1862); Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) iv. p. 291 (fig. of young horns) (1869); id. Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872); id. Hand-l. Rum. p. 113 (1873); Scl. List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883); Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (3) ix. p. 678, x. p. 95 (1883) (breeding in Paris); Flow. & Gars. Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 274 (1884); Jent. Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 138 (1887); W. Scl. Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 170 (1891); Flow. & Lyd. Mamm. p. 336, fig. 139 (animal) (1891); Ward, Horn Meas. p. 74 (1892); Nicolls & Egl. Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 48, pl. vii. fig. 25 (head) (1892); Jent. Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 170 (1892); Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 205 (1893).
Vernacular Names:—Gnu, White-tailed Gnu, or Black Wildebeest of English Cape colonists; Zwart Wildebeest of Dutch colonists; Inkonkone of Kaffirs (Drummond); Imbutuma of Zulus (Rendall).
Size rather less than in C. taurinus. General colour dark brown or blackish, the upwardly-directed facial tuft, the long hairs of the nape, throat, and chest black. Tail very long; its thick tuft reaching nearly to the ground; its colour white, except just at the base, where it is like the back.
Skull shorter than in C. taurinus, but lengthened above, owing to the horn-bases being prolonged backwards to support the enormous palms of the horns, beyond the level of the occiput. Nasals short and broad.
Measurements:—basal length 15·5 inches, greatest breadth 6·4, muzzle to orbit 9·3.
Horns with very large longitudinally developed palms, frequently attaining 8 inches in their greatest diameter. Proximal half of horn directed downwards, outwards, and forwards, then rapidly recurved, the end, which is about 10 or 12 inches in length, pointing nearly vertically upwards. Measured from the top of the palm outside the curves to the tip, good horns attain from 24 to 26 inches.
Hab. South Africa, south of the Limpopo.
The extraordinary form of the Gnu quickly attracted the notice of the early Dutch settlers at the Cape. They called it the “Wilde-Beest” supposing it to be a wild form of the domestic cattle, whilst the native name was stated to be Gnou or Gnu. As early as 1776 a living specimen of the Gnu appears to have reached Amsterdam, and was described by Allamand[8], whose account of it was copied by Buffon in the Supplement to his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ and by Vosmaer[9]. In 1777 Zimmermann latinized the native name, and used it specifically as gnou. This term was softened by Gmelin into gnu, and thus modified has been generally adopted as the specific name of this Antelope.
The older authors described the Gnu as lively, active, and petulant, trotting, ambling, and galloping with great swiftness; the males bellowing somewhat like a bull, the young ones having a “nasal murmur.” “They are sportive, and when alarmed always commence by playing with each other, striking sideways with their horns; but this lasts only for a moment, and the whole troop soon flies away across the desert with amazing speed.” By the year 1820 the Gnu appears to have been driven far from the neighbourhood of Cape Town, and even at that period not to have been found nearer than the Karroo district.
Sir Andrew Smith, whose expedition into the interior took place in 1834, 1835, and 1836, gives the grassy plains north of the Vaal River as the ordinary habitation of the Gnu at that epoch. After the fall of the summer rains the present species, he tells us, leaving its congener, the Brindled Gnu, behind, passes the Orange River into the Cape Colony. Here it becomes the prey of the hunters of all sorts who at this season turn out every year to track and slaughter the advancing herds.
Cornwallis Harris, who visited the Cape Colony shortly afterwards, tells us nearly the same story. He likewise found the Gnu, to the illustration of which he devotes the first plate of his great artistic work on the ‘Game-Animals of South Africa,’ abundant in the open plains of the Vaal River, and still to be met with even in some parts of the Colony. The hunt of the Wildebeest, Harris tells us, “forms a favourite diversion of the Dutch colonists, and occupies a very large portion of the apparently valueless time of the trek-boors, or nomad farmers, who graze their overgrown flocks and herds on the verdant meadows lying beyond the borders of the sterile colony. The carcase of a full-grown Wildebeest, even when ‘broken,’ forms a fair load for a pack-horse; the flesh, which is very insipid and usually quite destitute of fat, resembling very coarse beef in quality. A joint is therefore never dressed by the good vrow without having first been garnished with huge lumps of sheep’s-tail fat,—a sine quâ non in Dutch cookery,—dexterously thrust with the point of the thumb into perforations carved for their reception. This done, it is placed in the iron oven, with abundance of lard, and literally baked to rags! On account of its leanness, however, it is generally cut into strips, and converted into ‘biltong,’ by being dried in the sun. The silky tail of the Gnoo, which is in great demand for making chowries, forms an article of export; and the hide, when brayed, is employed by the colonists for riems, or thongs, with which to harness oxen in the team, and indeed for every purpose to which hempen rope, twine, and string are usually applied in other countries.”
At the present time, we fear, the White-tailed Gnu affords neither sport nor food to the Boer hunter. Modern authorities assure us that this Antelope, formerly found in such vast numbers on the plains of the interior, now only remains upon one or two farms in the north of the Cape Colony in Victoria West. So late as from 1850 to 1857 it was still fairly abundant between Colesberg and Hanover, but has now perished in this district. Moreover, as this species has never been known to exist beyond the Limpopo, there is not the slightest chance of its being found anywhere further north.
The White-tailed Gnu is an apt subject for domestication. Cornwallis Harris tells us that “when captured young it may easily be reared by hand upon cow’s milk, and may readily be induced to herd with cattle upon the farm, going out to the pasture, and returning with them, and exhibiting little inclination to reclaim its pristine liberty.” It has thus happened that specimens of it have been brought to Europe from an early period. We have already mentioned that one was living at Amsterdam in 1776, and others, no doubt, were introduced subsequently. In the Knowsley Menagerie both the White-tailed and Brindled Gnus found a place, and the young of both the species were figured from life by Waterhouse Hawkins, as we know from the series of magnificent drawings of the animals in the Knowsley Menagerie issued in 1850.
Fig. 15.
Young White-tailed Gnu (five months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)
At the Knowsley auction in 1851 only a pair of the present species were put up for sale. They were purchased by a dealer for Wombwell’s Menagerie at the price of £283 10s.
The Zoological Society seems to have acquired examples of the White-tailed Gnu as early as 1830, and this animal has remained represented in the collection, except for a few short intervals, ever since. Unfortunately, however, the Society was never successful in getting a breeding pair together until about two years ago, when a fine young male and two females were purchased of Mr. C. Reiche, of Alfeld. These have thriven well in the Antelope-House, and the first young Gnu was born on the 7th of March last. It grew fast and at the present time it is nearly as large as its parents.
Fig. 15 a.
Young White-tailed Gnu (eight months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)
The accompanying drawings by Mr. Smit (figs. 15 and 15 a) show this animal at the respective ages of five months and eight months.
The most successful results, however, in breeding the White-tailed Gnu have been obtained by Mr. F. E. Blaauw, Secretary to the Royal Zoological Society of Amsterdam, in his park at Westerveld, near Hilversum, in North Holland, on which he has been kind enough to furnish us with the following information:—Mr. Blaauw purchased his first pair of Gnus in 1886 from the Jardin d’Acclimatation at Paris. They arrived in winter and were kept in a covered shed without artificial warmth until the following spring, when they were turned out to a grass enclosure of about eight acres, well sheltered by plantations, and with a shed divided into compartments in one corner. The Gnus and their descendants have been kept in this enclosure ever since. In winter they are usually confined inside the house and fed on hay and oats, because the young ones are frequently born in winter and require a certain amount of protection. In the summer the Gnus never enter the shed, and subsist entirely by grazing.
Treated in this fashion the Gnus in Mr. Blaauw’s possession have succeeded in a wonderful way. From the single pair originally purchased and the two young females first born, no less than fourteen young Gnus have been successfully reared, and only two have been lost, having been born in the open field during severe frost.
Mr. Blaauw’s present herd consists of the original pair purchased in 1886, two adult females (the offspring of this pair born in 1886 and 1887), and two young ones born in May and June of the present year.
Mr. Blaauw has ascertained by frequent observation that the period of gestation in the White-tailed Gnu varies from 8¼ to 8½ months. Only a single young one has ever been produced at a birth. The female suckles her young for seven or eight months, but it commences to eat grass when about a week old.
In the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society of London, Mr. Blaauw has published an article on the development of the horns of the young Gnu, two of the figures of which we are enabled to reproduce here by the kind permission of that Society. The first figure (15 b) represents the first stage of the horns, in which they are perfectly straight and more or less divergent; the second figure (15 c) represents the horns when the animal is about 19 months old. The former straight portion has now become the terminal half, and the basal portion, though not yet quite fully developed, inclines downwards and outwards. The bases of the horns are still far apart, and there is a wide piece of hairy scalp between them. In the adult stage (as shown in Plate XII.) the basal ends of the horns become enormously swollen (especially in the male) and nearly meet together in the middle line. It should be further remarked that these swollen basal portions, which are smooth at first, become excessively corrugated and more highly developed when the animals get old.
Fig. 15 b.
Horns of young Gnu (11 weeks old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2.)
Fig. 15 c.
Horns of young Gnu (19 months old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 3.)
The females of the Gnu, according to Mr. Blaauw’s observation, are very prolific. They begin to breed before they are two years old, and bear a calf regularly nearly every fifteen months. They seem to stand the damp and cold of the Dutch climate without the slightest difficulty. It would even appear that they are specially suitable to domestication, as the animals born in captivity exceed on an average the size of those freshly imported from South Africa.
The White-tailed Gnu is only represented in the National Collection at the British Museum by a single immature female, mounted, and not now in good condition, besides several skulls and horns. A good wild-killed specimen of it, were it possible to obtain such an animal, would be, therefore, very acceptable.
January, 1895.
Subfamily II. CEPHALOPHINÆ.
General Characters.—Size medium or small. Muzzle naked. Large anteorbital glands present, more or less elongated. Tail medium. False hoofs present. No knee-brushes[10]. Mammæ 4.
Skull with large anteorbital fossæ, and with the frontal bones projecting backwards between the parietals, the horns (where 4, the posterior pair) placed on the tips of the projections. Molar teeth square and low-crowned.
Horns 2 (exceptionally 4), short, straight; generally present in both sexes, but those of the female more slender and smoother than those of the male.
Range of Subfamily. Africa and India, not extending over the intermediate regions of Arabia and Persia.
This Subfamily contains two genera, as follows:—
1. Cephalophus. African; with two horns only, and with the opening of the anteorbital glands forming a long naked line on the sides of the muzzle. Females generally horned.
2. Tetraceros. Indian; with four horns, at least in the typical variety, and with the opening of the anteorbital glands forming a deep slit in the sides of the muzzle. Females hornless.