Mr. Alfred Pease has kindly summarized his field-notes on the Gerenuk in the following paragraphs:—
“The Gerenuk is the commonest and most evenly distributed of all the Somali Antelopes, if we exclude the little Dik-diks, but it is by no means the least interesting. It is as peculiar as it is beautiful. At rest it is graceful, when running grotesque, and when feeding most curious in its pose. But its colouring of red and purple-grey, its reach of view, and its motions all wonderfully facilitate its power of escaping observation. At 300 yards I have often had my eye on them feeding, unable almost to distinguish them from their likeness to stems of trees and dead thorn. They are tree-feeders, and their length of leg, body, and giraffe-like necks enable them to crop the leaves from bush-trees at a great height from the ground. When thus occupied in browsing they are often absolutely vertical, and for minutes together motionless, save for the lips and head, which are buried in the foliage. The male alone carries horns, varying in length and circumference, which reach, in fine specimens, 15½ inches measured along the curve. The female is smaller and slighter than the male. On being disturbed they often remain so motionless that it is difficult to detect them in the bush, and when they make off they do so very quickly, and are immediately transformed from tall elegant animals with heads proudly carried to clumsy crouching fugitives with outstretched heads and necks. I have noticed when in flight they generally take a line more or less parallel to the hunter, as if they did not consider it safe to lose all knowledge of their pursuer’s whereabouts in the bush. With this object apparently they will usually keep the crest of a ridge or rise till they have put a considerable distance between themselves and their enemy. They go singly or in bands, but most commonly there are two, three, or more together. I have never seen more than fifteen in one band, and in that case twelve out of the fifteen were females. There is no part of Somaliland that I have visited where they are not common. In 1897 I saw some within five miles of Berbera, in 1896 and 1897 in the maritime plains, in the Golis, on the Haud, in distant Ogaden, and far Bourha, but nowhere more numerous than in the Godabürsi country. They are easily killed by anyone who can shoot standing up, as the long-line shot at the perpendicular, even when as narrow as that of a Gerenuk’s chest and neck, is a comparatively easy one, and no very nice judgment of range is necessary. Their meat is generally despised by the Somalis, but eaten by the Midgans; but to my own taste it is not very much less nice or more nasty than most other Antelope flesh. The Somalis have an expression ‘Gerenuk,’ which is derived from their opinion as to the merits of its flesh, as it is generally considered nasty meat, yet not actually forbidden, and occasionally even relished by individual Somalis. The word is used constantly as an interjection to express dissent, either in chaff or contempt, in the sense: ‘That may do for you, but it won’t do for me!’”
We subjoin Mr. E. N. Buxton’s lively account of his experiences with this Antelope, extracted from the second series of ‘Short Stalks’:—
“The long-necked ‘Gerenook’ is a bush-feeder, like the Giraffe, and is built on the same lines, except that the males carry curved horns. The body is on the scale of a small Fallow-deer, but such is its length of leg and neck that the head, when the animal is on guard, is held over six feet from the ground. They are generally found in small families of three or four. The bright chestnut back makes it fairly easy to see them even among the bushes. On the other hand, its sharp sight and length of neck give it a conspicuous advantage against pursuers. At the first sign of danger the Gerenook slinks behind the bushes, and peeps over the tops as from a small watch-tower. Imagine the strategical advantage you would have in guerilla-warfare if you could screw your head on to your umbrella and gently elevate it till it looked over the parapet, especially if your eyes were placed quite at the top. If they think themselves followed, down go their heads nearly to the ground and they retreat at a slouching trot, keeping completely out of sight. If you can manage to catch sight of one of these animals before he sees you, and that is seldom, do not shoot him, but watch him feeding. You will not have such a chance at the Zoo, for this species has never been brought alive to Europe. When he has consumed what he can reach in a normal attitude he rears up and stands on his hind legs, assuming a perfectly erect position. With the fore feet, which are carried level with the cheeks, he holds the boughs down, and assists his balance. If he happens to be facing you, so as to show his white belly, the appearance is particularly odd, being that of a tall brown man clad in a white apron.”
It will be recollected that Lithocranius walleri, although actually better known to us from Somaliland, was originally discovered in the southern part of its range, in British East Africa. Here, according to Mr. Hunter, it is “very rare in the Kilimanjaro district, though numerous up the Tana River.” Lieut v. Höhnel, who accompanied Count Teleki’s expedition to Lake Rudolph, informs us that it is common also on the Upper Tana, between Hameye and the mouth of the Mackenzie River, but that none were found on the Guaso Nyiro. Mr. Jackson, in the first volume of ‘Big Game Shooting,’ writes as follows concerning the habits of this species in British East Africa:—
“The East-African Waller’s Gazelle is very much smaller than that found in the Somali country. There is no mistaking this Antelope for any other, on account of its extraordinarily long and thin neck, which in the case of a fully adult buck, killed by myself at Merereni, was only 10 inches in circumference. Two females measured only 7 inches each round the neck. When walking and seen at a distance these animals look not unlike pigmy Giraffes, as they carry their long necks stretched out at an angle. They frequent the open bush fringing the outskirts of dense thickets, into which they at once retreat on being disturbed. Their note of alarm is a low short ‘buzz’! This Gazelle is essentially a bush-feeder. At Merereni I once watched a doe feeding on a small-leaved bush not unlike the privet in appearance, and several times I saw her rear up on her hind legs, bend down a branch with her fore legs, and feed on the leaves in this upright position like a goat. This quaint-looking little Antelope, like the Bushbuck, is apt to haunt one particular spot, and may be seen in or quite near to it for weeks together. They are very shy and not easy to stalk, and, as they have a happy knack of hiding behind bushes in the most effective manner, they are not easy to see.”
The Gerenuk was well represented in the collection of Mammals obtained by Mr. D. G. Elliot in the course of his recent expedition to Somaliland, and a series of specimens of this Antelope obtained on that occasion has been mounted in characteristic attitudes in one of the large show-cases of the Field-Columbian Museum at Chicago. Mr. Elliot has kindly sent us some photographs of this interesting group, which show the male, female, and young, and their peculiar manner of feeding.
The Gerenuk is represented in the British Museum by a fine mounted pair obtained by Herr Menges in the neighbourhood of Berbera, from which our illustration of both sexes (Plate LXXIV.) has been prepared by Mr. Smit. There are also four other skins of both sexes, purchased of Herr Menges, and the skin figured by Sclater (P. Z. S. 1884, pl. xlix.), which was presented to him by Herr Hagenbeck, but was likewise originally procured by Herr Menges. In the National Collection there are also a skin and skull of a male of this Antelope from Burao Wells, Somaliland, presented by Mr. T. W. H. Clarke, another skin and skull from the hills south of Berbera, presented by Capt. J. R. Harkness, R.A., and a mounted skeleton from Somaliland, obtained by purchase.
From the southern part of its range the British Museum has one of the original skulls from the River Juba district upon which the species was founded, and three skulls and some separate horns from the extreme south of the Somali coast, obtained by Sir John Kirk.
September, 1898.