Creature Feature: The antelope that looks Photoshopped

Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Antilopinae
Genus: Litocranius
Species: L. walleri
Distribution: Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania & northern Kenya

Do not adjust your monitor. Your eyes are not deceiving you (and no, Photoshop had no part to play here).

The gerenuk is real.

Of all the species of African antelope and gazelle, the giraffe-necked gerenuk really does stand head and shoulders above the rest! Adaptation has favoured this ungulate oddball – its spine, muscles and bone structure allow it perform a very unusual feat … unlike its other hoofed relations, the gerenuk can stand up on its hind legs.

This unique behavior (and that looooong neck!) allows the species to take advantage of a very particular feeding niche: while giraffes cover the tops of trees and shorter antelopes (like the dik dik, Thompson’s gazelle and impala) browse from the lower parts of bushes, gerenuks are perfectly designed for the unexploited middle – a feeding zone that few others can access.

So how does the gerenuk benefit from this extraordinary bit of dietary luck? For a start, less competition for food means it can mate any time of the year, with no specific breeding season. But this antelope is also a bit of a connoisseur: its mealtime gymnastics allow the gerenuk to reach the perfect morsels, including tender new shoots and the most succulent leaves. This dietary fussiness allows it to thrive in more hostile environments – because it gets adequate moisture from its superior food, the gerenuk can go for months without drinking water.

Have the gerenuk’s alien-like good looks piqued your interest in other ungulate quirks? Check out Earth-Touch.com for some great videos.