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Gazella subgutturosa
Gacela de bocio (Sp), Kropfgazelle (G), Gazelle à goitre (F).
DESCRIPTION Shoulder height 25-29 inches (64-74 cm). Weight 50-75 pounds (23-34 kg).
A medium-sized gazelle with a heavily built body, thick neck, relatively short legs and large hoofs. The long, black tail is carried erect while running, and divides the white rump patch at other times. The short summer coat is a sandy-fawn, becoming much paler in the long, rough winter coat. Flank band and rump stripes are indistinct. Underparts, inner legs and buttocks up to the base of the tail are white. The usual gazelline facial markings are indistinct or incomplete in adults. There are facial, groin and knee glands, and large glands between the hoofs. During the mating season (and at other times in some individuals), males exhibit a swelling on the throat, resembling a goiter, caused by inflation of the larynx. The male's horns are strongly ringed and lyrate, with the tips turning inward and the bases close together. Females are somewhat smaller than males and normally are hornless (except in the Arabian subspecies marica); however, they may develop small knobs.
DISTRIBUTION Private ranches in Texas.
REMARKS The goitered gazelle is native to Asia, where it is found from the Arabian Peninsula eastward and northward to China and Mongolia. Four subspecies are listed, but are not separated here. (The one presently being hunted on Texas game ranches is said to be the Persian subspecies G. s. subgutturosa.)
HYBRIDIZATION The goitered gazelle is either known or believed to crossbreed, or to be the result of hybridization, when in a game ranch environment.
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