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Information about Gerenuk

Gerenuk

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Artiodactyla
Family:Bovidae
Subfamily:Antilopinae
Genus:Litocranius
Species:L. walleri
Binomial name
Litocranius walleri
(Brooke, 1878)


Gerenuks, Litocranius walleri, are a type of antelope/gazelle with remarkably long necks that are found in East Africa. The gerenuk is also known as Waller's Gazelle. The word Gerenuk comes from the Somali language, meaning “giraffe-necked”.

Gerenuks have a small head for their body, but their eyes and ears are big. Unlike females, males have horns and a more muscular neck. They are brown on their back, and lighter underneath. They have short, black tails. From head to tail, the gerenuk is around 150 cm long. Males are a little taller than females, ranging from 89-105 cm, and the females are 80-100 cm. The male is also heavier than the female, weighing at 100lbs, and females are 68lbs.

Gerenuks eat food from higher places rather than from closer to the ground like other gazelles and antelopes eat. They do this by standing up on their hind legs, and stretching out their long necks to get food off of tall bushes. Most of their diet is made up of tender leaves and shoots of prickly bushes and trees, but also includes buds, flowers, fruit, and climbing plants. Gerenuks don’t need grass or water, because they get enough water from the plants that they eat. Because of this, gerenuks can survive in dry thorn-bush county.

They can mate during anytime of the year. Females reach sexual maturity at one year, and males reach sexual maturity at 1.5 years. A mother carries her child for about seven months. They are born one at a time, weighing about 6.5 lbs at birth. Their life span is about eight years in the wild, but they can live thirteen years or more in captivity.[1]

References

1. ^ Leo, Matt. Gerenuk. WhoZoo, information about animals at the Fort Worth Zoo. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.

External links

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Conservation Dependent (LR/cd) was an IUCN category assigned to species or lower taxa which were dependent on conservation efforts to prevent the taxon becoming threatened with extinction.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Mammalia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses & Infraclasses
  • Subclass †Allotheria*
  • Subclass Prototheria
  • Subclass Theria

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Artiodactyla*
Owen, 1848

Families

Antilocapridae
Bovidae
Camelidae
Cervidae
Giraffidae
Hippopotamidae
Moschidae
Suidae
Tayassuidae
Tragulidae
Leptochoeridae †
Dichobunidae †
Cebochoeridae †
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Bovidae
Gray, 1821

Subfamilies

Bovinae
Cephalophinae
Hippotraginae
Antilopinae
Caprinae
Reduncinae
Aepycerotinae
Peleinae
Alcelaphinae
Panthalopinae

A bovid
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Antilopinae
Gray, 1821

Genera

See text.
Antilopinae is a subfamily of Bovidae. The gazelles, blackbucks, springboks, gerenuks, dibatags and Central Asian gazelles are often referred to as "True Antelopes" and are usually the sole representitives of
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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Sir Victor Alexander Brooke, 3rd Baronet, (5 January 1843 – 27 November 1891) was a British naturalist and baronet. He was the grandfather of the first Viscount Brookeborough, third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
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The oldest continuous zoo site in Texas, the Fort Worth Zoo was founded in 1909 with one lion, two bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock and a few rabbits. From these humble beginnings, the Zoo has grown into housing more than 350 native and exotic species, and has
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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
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IUCN

International Organization
Founded October 1948, Fontainebleau, France
Headquarters Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland

Key people Mr Valli Moosa
Ms Julia Marton-Lefèvre
Industry Natural resource conservation
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