The Litocranius walleri [Gerenuk] is an odd and funny looking animal with an odd and funny sounding name. They are an unfamiliar animal that are a relative of the familiar antelope. This term paper should inform an individual more about this unique animal’s characteristics, habitat, reproduction, adaptations, threats, and other research that has been conducted about them.
The Litocranius walleri ‘s classification is as following: Animalia [Family], Chordata [Phylum], Vertebrata [Subphylum], Mammalia [Class], Artiodactyla [Order], Bovidae [Family], Litocranius [Genus] (Payne 2003). They are a part of Order Artiodactyla because they are “even toed ungulates” (Payne 2003). It is a relative of the antelopes, gazelles, and dik-diks (Payne 2003). …show more content…
Along with the long neck, the Gerenuk have a relatively small head with cartoonishly large eyes and ears. Their coloration is shades of brown, black, and white. Most if the body and legs of thee Gerenuk are brown and white. The face and ears have strips of white and black. They have a relatively short tail with a patch of black hair at the end. Like many animals, the males have a distinguishing characteristic: horns. These horns grow upward and they are thick with a lot of ridges. The males also tend to have a more muscular neck than the females (Gerenuk). The adult Gerenuk can weigh between 80 and 115 pounds (Gerenuk). They are herbivores which can be an advantage because of where they live …show more content…
From attributes like the long muscular neck, to its ability to stand on its hind legs for long periods of time. The Gerenuk has so many unique features and has made many intelligent changes so it can survive in this world. Looking at this animal made me realize how many different species of antelope there are. As well as, how many animals are traded illegal in the Somali Wildlife Trades. As someone who very interested in wildlife, I would love to get the chance to observe the Gerenuk as closely as many of my cited researchers could. It would be incredible to see their funny way of eating in person. Finding information that was not so basic was hard, not many people have done observations on the Gerenuk. I believe it would be interesting to find out more about how this species has survived, and if they hold any other intriguing habits or adaptations. Also, most of the information that I found is outdated. The most recent information was from 2006, and that article was mostly relating to the Somali Wildlife Trade. All in all, The Gerenuk is one of the many animals that contribute to the circle of life and will hopefully continue to for many years to