240 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photo by Percy Askmden 

 A species 



BLESBOK. 



formerly very numerous in South Africa, but now -well-nigh 

 exterminated. 



BONTEBOK AND BLESBOK GROUP. 



Nearly allied to the hartebeests are 

 certain other anteloj.es, of which it will be 

 sufficient to mention but two species viz. 

 the BONTEEOK and the BLESBOK. These two 

 antelopes, though doubtless distinct, since 

 their points of difference are constant and 

 unvarying, are nevertheless so much alike, 

 and evidently so closely allied, that I look 

 upon the former as a highly coloured and 

 sjiecialised race of the latter. The blesbok 

 once had a far wider range than the 

 bontebok, and ran in countless herds on 

 the plains of the northern districts of the 

 Cape Colony, the Orange Biver Colony, the 

 Transvaal, Griqualand West, and British 

 Bechuanaland, whilst the latter animal has 

 always been confined to the sandy wastes 

 in the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas, the 

 extreme southern point of Africa. 



I think it, however, not improbable 

 that ages ago the blesbok ranged right 

 through Cape Colony to the sea-shore, and 

 that subsequently the gradual desiccation 



of the south-western portions of the country which is still continuing or several years of 



continuous drought, caused the withdrawal of the species northwards from the waterless parts 



of the country. Those, however, which had reached the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas, where 



there is plenty of water, would have remained behind and formed an isolated race, which, being 



influenced by local conditions, would naturally in course of time have become differentiated 



from the parent stock. Be this as it may, the bontebok of to-day is nothing but a glorified 



blesbok, being slightly larger and 



more richly coloured than the 



latter animal. Its horns, too, are 



always black, whilst those of the 



blesbok are of a greenish hue. 



When they are in good condition, 



the coats of both these species 



of antelope, as well as of the 



SASSABY, another member of this 



grouj), show a beautiful satiny 



sheen, which plays over their 



purple-brown hides like shadows 



on sunlit water. 



The few bonteboks which still 



survive are now all preserved on 



large enclosed farms; but their 



numbers are very small less than 



300, it is believed. The farmers 



of Dutch descent now do their 



best to preserve rare species on WHITE-TAILED GNU AND CALF. 



their land. This" Wildebeest' io now believed to be practically exterminated as a wild animal 



Photo i y /. w. 



[Highbury. 



