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.