Gazelle vs Antelope
 

Antelopes including gazelles are very important animals living in Asia and Africa. Since gazelle is a member of the antelope species, their speciality should be understood well. This article provides information on antelopes in general and gazelle in particular. Therefore, it would be easy to understand the difference between gazelle and antelope with this compiled information.

Gazelle

Gazelles are small bodied but long horned animals of the Family: Bovidae. There are 13 species of gazelles described under three genera, but it is still in debate among taxonomists about the number of species and genera. Gazelles belong to the group of antelopes, and they are swift animals with the ability to gain the maximum speed up to 80 kilometres per hour. Their swiftness is extremely useful to overrun their predators. Gazelles are known for their unique behaviour called stotting. In other words, when they notice a predator around them, they start to move slowly and suddenly leap very high and flee as speedy as possible, which is an excellent behavioural adaptation to evade predators. Gazelles have different coat colours according to the species as some of them look much like springboks. However, the colours are slightly contrasting, and the faces are browner in gazelles than in springboks. Their horns are long, slightly curved backwards, wrinkled, sharply pointed, and thick at the bases.

Gazelles live in grasslands and sometimes in the deserts of both Asia and Africa. However, there had been some recently extinct gazelles including Red gazelle, Arabian gazelle, and Saudi gazelle. The remaining species are considered as threatened or near threatened. According to many sources, the lifespan of a gazelle varies around 10 – 12 years in wild and 15 years, in captivity.

Antelope

Antelopes are a miscellaneous group of animals of the Order: Artiodactyla as they are even-toed ungulates. There are 91 species of antelopes including Springbok, Gazelle, Oryx, Impala, Waterbuck, and many others. All the true antelopes are native to Africa and Asia. Antelopes have unbranched horns, which are never shed. Pronghorn antelope is native to North America, but they are not true antelopes as they have branched and annually shed antlers. However, antelopes are not a certain clade in biological taxonomy, but the term loosely refers to all the Bovines those are neither cattle nor sheep nor goat.

Antelopes live in a range of habitats; Oryx lives in deserts, Sitatungas live in semi aquatic environments and Saigas live in extremely cold ecosystems. Nevertheless, most are in African savannahs, and some are in Asia, as well. The coat is mostly brown in colour with white or pale bellies and a dark and thick lateral stripe. An adult could weigh around 40 to 60 kilograms. The Lifespan ranges between 10 and 25 years in the wild.

What is the difference between Gazelle and Antelope?

• Antelopes are a group of animals with 91 species while gazelle is one type of animal with 13 species.

• Gazelles show stotting behaviour, but not all antelopes do.

• Gazelle is smaller than all the antelopes.

• Gazelle can run faster than most of other antelopes.

• Antelopes in general inhabit a range of ecosystems including deserts, cold environments, and around water-logged areas; on the other hand, gazelles live in deserts only.