Antelope: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:51, 13 March 2006

Revision as of 09:42, 15 March 2006

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Antelopes communicate with each other using a varying array of sounds. For example, [[Dik-dik]]s whistle when alarmed warning other animals of danger which makes dik-diks unpopular with hunters. Generally, sight is a much more form of communication than sound for antelopes. Their mood is indicated by their posture and movement. When excited or alarmed, most medium-sized species of antelopes bounce up in down on all four legs, keeping them stretched out straight. Known as pronking or stotting, this behaviour acts as an alarming display. Some biologists theorize that stotting also gives a message to predators, showing that individual antelopes are fit and alert, therefore not worth pursuing.

Antelopes also use scent signals to communicate and these signals can linger for many days. Antelopes that live in herds have special glands in their hoofs that leave a scented record of their movement, therefore, if an antelope was accidentally seperatedseparated from their herd, they would be able to follow the scent tracks back.

Antelope species that live in forests tend to stay in the same place all their lives, but species that live out in the open often [[migration|migrate]] to feed and breed. The [[Gnus]] carries out the most famous of these migrations living in the plains and open [[woodland]]s or eastern and southern [[Africa]]. Gnus are sedentary in some places, but in others such as [[Serengeti National Park]], gnus travel between two different home ranges. One of these ranges is used during the dry season while another is used during the wet season. Migration can be very risky, some of these dangers include crossing [[crocodile]]-infested rivers, but it supplies the gnus with food at different times of the year.