33O ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



ferred to in a general way as antelopes, which "is a very loose term, 

 meaning simply any hollow-horned ruminant that is not an ox, a sheep 

 or a goat." 29 Among them are the hartebeest, klipspringer, water buck, 

 oryx, eland, gazelle and others. They are grazing animals, but oc- 

 casionally browse, as most ruminants do. Their flesh is excellent and 

 has been much depended upon by African explorers as a source of 

 food. They have been so persistently hunted that the once great herds 

 are in many places greatly depleted, some of them are becoming very 

 scarce and the range of many has become much restricted. "White 

 hunters and modern firearms have reduced the countless thousands to 

 a number so small that the capture and exportation of elands [for 

 exhibition purposes] has practically ceased. Their complete extermina- 

 tion is merely a matter of time because they are slaughtered for their 

 valuable hides." 30 Various species are also found in Asia. There are at 

 least 100 species altogether, some of which might be adapted to our 

 arid Southwest, but their introduction, as advocated by some sports- 

 men, would be a risky experiment, which should not be attempted. 

 Some of them are quite large, the eland weighing from 800 to noo 

 pounds, some old males even 1400 or 1500 pounds. 31 Some of them 

 have remarkable, very ornamental horns, and their skins are used for 

 various purposes. About 200,000 gazelle skins were marketed from 

 Africa in i^2^-ig24, 32 probably including other antelopes, as the term 

 gazelle is used very loosely by fur dealers. 



Domesticated sheep furnish not only a large amount of meat, but 

 the almost indispensable wool. "Sheep husbandry is one of the most 

 important, as well as one of the oldest, of the world's agricultural 

 industries." The per capita consumption of lamb and mutton in several 

 countries, and the ratio it bears to the total meat consumption in those 

 countries have been stated as follows: 33 



United States 6.2 pounds, 4.35 per cent 



Canada 9 pounds, 5.57 per cent 



United Kingdom 26.7 pounds, 22.25 per cent 



France 9.25 pounds, 1 1.25 per cent 



Germany 2.2 pounds, 1.91 per cent 



The most valuable contribution of sheep to mankind is wool. We get 

 from an individual sheep but one crop of meat, obtained only by de- 



29 Roosevelt, African game trails, pp. 47, 275, 1910. 

 80 Blair, In the zoo, p. 69, 1929. 



31 Lantz, Raising deer and other large game animals in the United States, U. S. 

 Biol. Surv. Bull. No. 36, 1910. 



32 Innis, The fur trade of Canada, table opp. p. 76, 1927. 



83 Spencer and others, The sheep industry, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. for 1923, 

 pp. 229-310. 



