FRINGE-EARED ORYX 



ORYX CALLOTIS 



Swahili : Cheroa. Masai : Ngimosorrok 



I HAVE lately come across this animal on 

 frequent occasions on the German boundary. 

 As a matter of fact, he is of exactly 

 the same shape as the beisa oryx, but 

 smaller in build, and does not stand so high by 

 a hand. The face markings also differ, the eye- 

 stripe coming right down to the bottom of the 

 jaw ; and in this and the tufted ears lies the chief 

 distinction between the two kinds. He is a greyish 

 fawn colour with a black stripe down his back 

 from the withers to the tail, which is also black ; 

 has a black line at the junction, on the flanks, of 

 his fawn back and white belly, black splotches 

 above both knees, the black eye-stripe extending 

 broadly to the black line under his lower jaw, and, 

 lastly, the tips of his ears are tufted as above 

 mentioned. 



They are found singly and in herds of four to 

 even ten and sometimes twenty, and I recently 

 came across a herd of forty-eight under Kili- 

 manjaro, which, however, I look upon as being 

 quite unusual. 



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