antelope

A herd of eland, Tragelaphus Taurotragus oryx, grazes in a nature reserve on the high veld grasslands of South Africa. Once a common antelope, the eland now survives only in a few carefully protected areas.

An impala at Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, southern Africa. The park is home to more than a hundred species of game, including almost 6,000 impala.

Any of numerous kinds of even-toed, hoofed mammals belonging to the cow family, Bovidae. Most antelopes are lightly built and good runners. They are grazers or browsers, and chew the cud. They range in size from the dik-diks and duikers, only 30 cm/1 ft high, to the eland, which can be 1.8 m/6 ft at the shoulder.

The majority of antelopes are African, including the eland, wildebeest, kudu, springbok, and waterbuck, although other species live in parts of Asia, including the deserts of Arabia and the Middle East. The pronghorn antelope Antilocapra americana of North America belongs to a different family, the Antilocapridae.