ORDER ARTIODACTYLA I EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 701 



South African Roan Antelope. Antilope chevaline (Fr.). 

 Bastergemsbok ; Bastereland (Boer) 



HIPPOTRAGUS EQUINUS EQuiNus (Desmarest) 



Antilope equina "Geoffr." Desm[arest], Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., ed. 1, vol. 24, 

 p. 4, 1804. (Type locality unknown; restricted by Harper (1940, p. 330) 

 to "the vicinity of Litakun, British Bechuanaland," at approximately 

 lat. 27 S., long. 24 E.) 



FIGS.: Jardine, Nat. Libr., Mammalia, vol. 3, pi. 23, 1835; Harris, 1840, pi. 18; 

 A. Smith, 1849, pi. 27; Millais, 1895, pi. facing p. 188, pp. 126, 129, figs.; 

 Sclater and Thomas, 1899, vol. 4, pi. 77, p. 29, fig. 90; Bryden, 1899, pi. 12, 

 figs. 6-7; W. L. Sclater, 1900, vol. 1, p. 218, fig. 57; Lydekker, 1908, pi. 12, 

 figs. 6-7; Selous, 1914, pi. 26. 



The range limits of this subspecies have not been satisfactorily 

 determined; they may be provisionally considered to extend from 

 the Orange River, South Africa, north to Nyasaland and southern 

 Belgian Congo. This broad range includes large portions of the 

 Southeast Veldt District, the Kalahari Arid District, and the Rho- 

 desian Savanna District of Bowen (1933, pp. 256, 259, 260) . Prac- 

 tically everywhere over this territory the numbers of the Roan have 

 been seriously depleted except in Northern Rhodesia and in reserves 

 such as Kruger National Park. In Angola it is replaced by H. e. 

 cottoni Dollman and Burlace, and in East Africa by H. e. langheldi 

 Matschie. 



General color of male pale brown ; muzzle, chin, a stripe from base 

 of horns past front of eye, and a rounded patch behind eye, white; 

 rest of face, and forehead up to base of horns, black; ears with 

 black pencils at tips ; a mane of stiff upright hairs, gray basally and 

 brown terminally, extending from occiput to middle of back; a 

 throat-fringe of long hairs; chest and inside of forelimbs chestnut- 

 black; outside of limbs like back; belly and inside of hind limbs 

 white; tail with black tuft, reaching hocks. Horns stout and strong, 

 cylindrical, transversely ridged, somewhat divergent, curved back- 

 wards; record length on front curve, 39 inches. Height at shoulder, 

 54 inches. Female slightly smaller, with shorter horns, and with 

 black of face not so well marked. (W. L. Sclater, 1900, vol. 1, pp. 

 217-219; Ward, 1935, p. 205.) 



"Not very many years ago the animal was frequently seen within 

 the northern boundary of the Cape Colony, . . . from which it has 

 now in a great measure, if not completely, disappeared. It is an 

 animal which congregates, and commonly from- six to twelve indi- 

 viduals are found associated together. . . . The number of herds 

 in any given tract is comparatively small, so that the animal, though 

 generally diffused, is, nevertheless, no where abundant." (A. Smith, 

 1849, text to pi. 27.) 



