Rhim Gazelle
Encyclopedia
The rhim gazelle also known as the slender-horned gazelle or sand gazelle, is a slender-horned gazelle
Gazelle
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...

, most adapted to desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 life. There are fewer than 2500 in the wild.

Description

The palest of the gazelles, this animal has adapted to desert life in many ways. Their pale coat reflects the sun's rays instead of absorbing them, and their hooves are slightly enlarged to help them walk on the sand, although occasionally they occupy stony regions. The horns
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...

 on the male are slender and slightly S-shaped; those of the female are even thinner, lighter and less curved.

Habitat

The rhim or rheem gazelle is found in isolated pockets across the central Sahara Desert (Kingdom 1997, Spinage 1986). The extreme heat of this environment limits their feeding to the early morning and evening, and G. leptoceros gains most of its water requirements from dew and plant moisture, relying little on open water sources.

The rhim gazelle is a nomadic species moving across its desert range in search of vegetation, though it does not have a set migratory pattern (East 1997, Kingdom 1997).

Endangered by the early 1970's, this species of gazelle was in serious decline. They were hunted firstly by mounted then by motorized hunters for sport, meat or their horns, which were sold as ornaments in North African markets.

Rhim gazelle in philately

On February 1, 1987, the Libyan General Posts and Telecommunications Company (GPTC), in cooperation with World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...

, issued a set of four postage stamps illustrating the Gazella leptoceros.

External links

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