THE DIBATAG OR CLARKE’S GAZELLE 
AMMODORCAS CLARKEI 
T HIS remarkable antelope, although undoubtedly possessing 
many gazelle-like characteristics, yet differs from all the true 
gazelles in so many important particulars that it has been placed 
in a genus by itself. Combined with the ordinary face-markings 
of a gazelle, the dibatag has horns which in shape resemble 
those of the reedbuck. Its legs are very long for the size of its 
body. In this respect, however, it does not differ greatly from the dama 
gazelle, but in no true gazelle is the length of the neck so great as in the 
dibatag. The tail, also, in this species is very long. The males alone carry 
horns which, as has been said before, in general appearance resemble 
those of a reedbuck and have been known to attain a length of thirteen 
inches, though they seldom measure more than eleven inches. Though 
the size of the body in Clarke’s gazelle is very small, a full-grown male 
only weighing from 60 lb. to 70 lb., yet, owing to the length of the legs, 
the shoulder height in this species is as much as thirty-two or thirty-three 
inches. The body colour of the dibatag is dark brown with purplish 
reflections, and there is no darker flank band. A rich chestnut -red streak 
runs down the centre of the face, on each side of which there is a pure 
white band. 
This curious aberrant gazelle is a native of Central Somaliland, and is a 
very local species, as it has never been met with anywhere but in the 
eastern portion of the waterless Haud plateau. 
Comparatively few sportsmen have seen and shot Clarke’s gazelle, and 
fewer still have recorded their experiences with it. Writing of this species 
in his well-known book, “ Seventeen Trips Through Somaliland,” Major 
(now General) H. G. C. Swayne, R.E., tells us that: 
“ Dibatag are difficult to see, their purplish -grey colour matching 
with the high durr grass in the glades where they are found. The 
glossy, shining coat reflects the surrounding colours, making it 
sometimes almost invisible, and at the best of times its slender body 
is hard to make out. I have often mistaken female Waller’s gazelle 
for dibatag, and once shot one of the former in mistake for the latter. 
The habits and gait are much the same, save that the dibatag starts 
off with head held up and the long tail held erect over the back, 
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