THOMSON’S GAZELLE 
GAZELLA THOMSONI 
O N the central plateaux of British and German East Africa 
this pretty little antelope is found almost everywhere 
I side by side with the typical race of Grant’s gazelle, 
I though to the north of Mount Kenia, along the Gwas 
'N’yiro River, where a local race of Grant’s gazelle is 
abundant, I met with no Thomson’s gazelles. On the 
other hand, whilst Thomson’s gazelles are very numerous to the north of 
Nairobi, to the west of the Athi River, Grant’s gazelles are not found in 
that district, though both species are plentiful to the east of the river. 
When nearing Rumuruti on the road from N’yeri, I met with numbers of 
Thomson’s gazelles, but I did not come across these antelopes on other 
portions of the Laikipia plateau which I have visited. Although the Gwas 
N’gishu plateau, which lies between the Uganda Railway and Mount 
Elgon, would appear to be well suited to the habits and requirements of 
both Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, curiously enough, neither species 
is found there. 
In shoulder height Thomson’s gazelle stands about twenty-five inches 
at the shoulder. The general body colour is reddish fawn, and in both 
sexes and at all ages a broad black flank band dividing the white of the 
belly from the fawn colour of the body is always present. The males carry 
horns which grow very straight up from the head, and on the average 
measure from twelve to fourteen inches in length. Occasionally they 
reach a length of sixteen inches, but nowadays horns measuring fourteen 
inches may be considered good. The horns are beautifully ringed from 
the base to within a few inches of the tips. A dark brown streak runs 
down the centre of the face to a black spot on the nose, as in Grant’s 
gazelle. In Thomson’s gazelle the females are, as a rule, hornless, but 
in a certain number of individuals small and often malformed horns, 
three or four inches in length, round and smooth like those of a steinbok, 
are present. 
At a distance one is apt to mistake male Thomson’s gazelles for female 
Grant’s, but the former may always be at once distinguished from the 
latter by the way in which they constantly flick their rather long black 
tails rapidly from side to side. 
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