WALLER'S GAZELLE 



LITHOCRANIUS WALLERI 



SWAHILI : SWALLAH. MASAI \ NANJAAT 



THE Waller's Gazelle, or Gerenuk, as it 

 is called by the Somalis, is one of 

 nature's freaks in the antelope line. 

 It is in colour of a rufous fawn all 

 over, with a broadish darker line along the middle 

 of the back. It has an abnormally long neck, 

 and the head is very nearly six feet high when 

 the animal stands up on all fours. As its neck is 

 to the body of the giraffe, so does the gerenuk's 

 neck compare to the body of this strange beast. 

 Its lees are also longer and more slender than are 

 usually found in other species of antelopes. 



The male carries thickish ribbed horns, oval in 

 section, curving back and then sharply forward 

 at the tips ; whilst looking at them end-on they 

 are lyre-shaped. 



One of its chief peculiarities is that when 

 grazing on thorn bush, which forms the chief part 

 of its diet, it stands on its hind legs like a goat 

 and draws down the top branches with its fore- 

 legs, and so can reach very high up on to the 

 bush with its long neck. 



153 



