Colours of Wildlife: Addra Gazelle
Created | Updated Jun 19, 2016
Addra Gazelle
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
Back to Africa! This is an Addra Gazelle, Gazella dama ruficollis. This must be one of the loveliest of all Africa's antelopes. The Addra Gazelle is a subspecies of the Dama Gazelle; another subspecies is the Mhorr Gazelle. There is a gradation of colour forms, from the Mhorr, which has a white face, belly and hindquarters, and a rich reddish brown on the rest of the body, to the Addra, which is mostly white, having only some reddish brown on its neck and shoulders. The Dama Gazelle, understood as a complete species, is the largest of the gazelles, reaching 120 cm/4' height at the shoulder, and a bodyweight of 75 kg/165 lbs. The Grant's Gazelle,Gazella granti can occasionally be heavier, but is not overall as large and tall. Dama gazelles are very slender, with long legs and necks. Only the males have horns, which aren't particularly long, and swept back in a graceful curve.
Nomads of the Deserts
Today this is one of the rarest of all Africa's mammals, occurring only in a few regions of the zone where the Sahara Desert transitions into the Sahel, the belt of open semi-desert flanking the true desert on the south. The problem with the Dama Gazelle is that they are nomads. They spend much time living in the desert itself, but when food there becomes scarce, and especially when it is time for the ewes to lamb, they move into the Sahel to find food and shelter. And there they come in contact – and conflict – with humans. Even the Sahara itself now has many people in it, and in the Sahel there are many more. These people also traverse the dry plains seeking grazing for their herds of cattle. Habitat that the gazelles would use, are now taken up completely by these herders. What is more, they will often shoot the gazelles for food, also. What's worse, there are even unscrupulous hunters coming in from America and elsewhere, who hunt them merely for the sake of killing a specimen of this very rare gazelle! Whereas, not so long ago, the Dama gazelles ranged through the entire region around the Sahara, even as far north as Morocco, they are now restricted to a few remaining patches. Only where they are rigorously protected, and where human herders are excluded, do they still have a chance.
The Sahara Desert and even the Sahel are very harsh regions to live in. Food and water are very sparsely distributed. To find enough, Dama gazelles move around a lot, covering vast ranges. Even in the Sahara, rain does fall on occasion. During good wet seasons, the gazelles used to move well into the desert, finding good browse. They feed off the low, hardy, trees and shrubs of the desert, and will eat succulents and grasses also. Just like the gerenuk antelopes, they are able to rear up on their hind legs to feed on the higher branches and leaves of the thorny deser trees. They can get most of their water needs directly from this food.
In the old days, these gazelles often formed huge herds, ranging around the desert, following the rains. Then when feeding good grounds were found, they'd break up into smaller groups, each with fifteen members or so. Mating would happen from March to June, the peak of the rainy season. Then, when the ewes are ready to lamb, they move back south to the Sahel. The northern animals used to move north to the semi-desert grasslands of Morocco south from the Atlas mountains, but these northern gazelles are now entirely extinct. Today, the remaining Dama gazelles find their movements very much constrained.
Fortunately, there are conservation efforts in place for this most elegant of African mammals. There are some breeding herds in several international zoos. However, the gazelles most of all need protection in their native lands. With many of them occurring in politically unstable countries like the Sudan, this is not going to be easy to achieve. But there is hope, at least.
