Native name, Gerenúk
The Gerenúk is the commonest and most widely distributed of the Somáli antelopes except the little Sakáro, which springs like a hare from every thicket.
The long neck of the Gerenúk, large giraffe-like eyes, and long muzzle, are peculiar to it and the Dibatag (Ammodorcas clarkei). The Gerenúk is more of a browser of bushes than a grass-feeder, and I have twice shot it in the act of standing on the hind legs, neck extended, and fore-feet against the trunk of a tree, reaching down the tender shoots, which could not be got in any other way. Thus not only the appearance, but the habits of the Gerenúk are giraffe-like. The skull extends far back behind the ears like that of a camel.
Waller’s Gazelle (Lithocranius walleri).
Length of horns on curve, 15⅜ inches.
It is found all over the Somáli country in small families, never in large herds, and generally in scattered bush, ravines, and rocky ground. I think it subsists almost entirely on bushes, as it is constantly found in places deserted by oryx and all other antelopes because there was no grass. Perhaps the Gadabursi country is the best ground, but the Gerenúk is almost ubiquitous and need not be specially looked for. I have never seen it in the cedar forests which crown Gólis, nor in the treeless plains which occur in the Haud. It is not necessarily found near water,—in fact, generally on stony ground with a sprinkling of thorn jungle.
The gait of this antelope is peculiar, and when first seen a buck will generally be standing motionless, head well up, looking at the intruder and trusting to its invisibility. Then the head dives under the bushes, and the animal goes off at a long crouching trot, stopping now and again behind some bush to gaze. It seldom gallops, and its pace is never very fast. In the whole shape of the head and neck, with its extended muzzle and slender lower jaw, there is a marked resemblance between the Gerenúk and the Dibatag. The texture of the coat is much alike in both. The horns of immature buck Gerenúk have almost exactly the same shape as those of the Dibatag. The average length of Waller’s gazelle horns is about thirteen inches. The females are hornless; they sometimes lose or desert their young ones, as I have now and then come on fawns living alone in the jungle. The Gerenúk stands a good deal higher than an Indian blackbuck, but would be about the same weight.
Sœmmering’s Gazelle (Gazella sœmmeringi)
Native name, Aoul