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Antilope cervicapra
Antilope negro (Sp), Hirschziegenantilope (G), Antilope cervicapre (F). Also called Indian antelope.
DESCRIPTION (male) Shoulder height 22-25 inches (56-64 cm). Weight 75-110 pounds (34-50 kg), with an average of about 90 pounds (41 kg). Females are two-thirds as large as males.
A slender, graceful, very handsome antelope with contrasting dark-and-white coloration. Considered by many to be the most attractive and elegant of gazelles. One of the few antelopes where the sexes have different coloration. Mature males are a rich, dark brown (sometimes almost black) on the upperparts and outside of upper legs, but with the underparts, inside of legs, chin, ears and area around the eyes a sharply contrasting white. Females are fawn and white. Young males are colored like females, darkening gradually with age until fully mature at 4-5 years. (Oddly, a few males fail to darken, although normal in other respects.) The horns (males only) are long, closely ringed and corkscrew-shaped, with 3-5 tight twists.
DISTRIBUTION May be hunted on private properties in southeastern Australia. There is also a small population in Western Australia.
REMARKS Native to the plains of India and Pakistan where, until the last century, they were the most abundant hoofed animal, numbering about four million. Blackbuck were introduced in several locations in southwestern and west-central parts of Western Australia during the early 1900s. By 1929 they had increased to where they required culling as pests. A remnant population still survives on fenced land.
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