Goitered gazelle

The goitered or black-tailed gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) is a gazelle found in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, parts of Iraq and Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and in northwest China and Mongolia.[1] The specific name, meaning "full below the throat", refers to the male having an enlargement of the neck and throat during the mating season.

Goitered gazelle
Male of the Persian subspecies (G. s. subgutturosa) at Korkeasaari Zoo
Female goitered gazelle at the Shirvan National Park, Azerbaijan
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Antilopinae
Genus: Gazella
Species:
G. subgutturosa
Binomial name
Gazella subgutturosa
Subspecies
  • Gazella subgutturosa subgutturosa
  • Gazella subgutturosa hilleriana
  • Gazella subgutturosa yarkandensis

Habitat

The goitered gazelle inhabits sands and gravel plains and limestone plateau. Large herds were also present in the Near East. Some 6,000 years ago, they were captured and killed with the help of desert kites.[2][3] Rock art found in Jordan suggests ritual slaughter.[2] In Iran, one can walk among different areas from green mixed forests towards mountainous or semi-arid steppes in Golestan & Tandoureh National Park to find Goitered gazelle. Goitered gazelles look different according to hot and cold seasons; they look brighter in the summers, while they are more furry in winter.

Behavior

It runs at high speed, without the leaping, bounding gait seen in other gazelle species. Throughout much of their range, goitered gazelles migrate seasonally.[1] Herds cover 10–30 km per day in the winter, with these distances being reduced to about 1–3 km in summer.

Their mating behavior is polygynous and usually occurs in the early winter.[4]

Taxonomy

Several subspecies have been described. Groves & Leslie (2011) distinguish four forms, which they treat as separate monotypic species.[5] Wacher et al.[6] established that G. s. marica is a separate species, Gazella marica.[1]

  • Persian gazelle (Gazella (subgutturosa) subgutturosa) - southeastern Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Syria, northern and eastern Iraq, Iran, southern Afghanistan, western Pakistan
  • Turkmen gazelle (Gazella (subgutturosa) gracilicornis) - Kazakhstan (Buzachi) in the east to about Lake Balkash, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
  • Yarkand gazelle (Gazella (subgutturosa) yarkandensis) - northern and northwestern China (Xinjiang, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Gansu, Nei Monggol), Mongolia; includes subspecies hilleriana.

Former subspecies
Sand gazelle (Gazella marica) at Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, United Arab Emirates

Until recently, goitered gazelles were considered to represent a single, albeit polymorphic, species. However, recent genetic studies show one of the subspecies, G. s. marica, is paraphyletic in respect to the other populations of goitered gazelles,[6] although gene introgression is observed in the contact zone between the two species.[7]

References
  1. IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2017). "Gazella subgutturosa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T8976A50187422.
  2. Amos, Jonathan (19 April 2011). "Gazelles caught in ancient Syrian 'killing zones'". BBC News. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  3. Role of mass-kill hunting strategies in the extirpation of Persian gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) in the northern Levant. Guy Bar-Oz, Melinda Zeder, and Frank Hole. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010.
  4. Xia, Canjun, et al. "The energy-maintenance strategy of goitered gazelles Gazella subgutturosa during rut." Behavioural processes 103 (2014): 5-8.
  5. C. P. Groves, D. M. Leslie Jr. (2011). Family Bovidae (Hollwo-horned Ruminants). (585-588). In: Wilson, D. E., Mittermeier, R. A., (Hrsg.). Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hooved Mammals. Lynx Edicions, 2009. ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4
  6. Wacher T, Wronski T, Hammond RL, Winney B, Blacket MJ, Hundertmark KJ, Mohammed OB, Omer SA, Macasero W, Lerp H, Plath M, Bleidor C (2011) Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences reveals polyphyly in the goitered gazelle(Gazella subgutturosa). Conserv Genet 12:827–831
  7. Murtskhvaladze M, Gurielidze Z, Kopaliani N, Tarkhnishvili D (2012) Gene introgression between Gazella subguturrosa and G. marica: limitations of maternal inheritance analysis for species identification with conservation purposes. Acta Theriologica DOI 10.1007/s13364-012-0079-8
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