Fun Arabian Gazelle Facts For Kids
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The Arabian gazelle (Gazella arabica) is from the family Bovidae and the genus Gazella. This species is found in the Middle East and their range includes the Arabian peninsula, Sinai, and Palestine. The habitat that this gazelle inhabits consists of hilly and mountainous regions as well as light forests, desert plateaus, and fields.
The breeding of gazelles takes place in the rainy season and when the male is ready to mate, it tends to stretch and lower its head and chases the female. If the female is receptive, it will be submissive.
The gestation period is known to be six months long and one or two fawns are born and after around 12 minutes, the young ones can stand on their own. Till the mothers nurse the young ones, they tend to stay with them and later join herds.
The color of the coat of this gazelle is dark brown in color and they have white underparts. Both males and females have horns and are slender. Their tail is black in color, short, and bushy. The head and hind legs are known to be proportional.
The food of this animal consists of shrubs, grasses, and leaves. Arabian gazelles are known to be fast runners and can reach speeds of about 60 mph (97 kph).
Habitat loss is one threat that has led to the decline in the number of these animals in its range. It is known to live for about eight years in the wild.
It is very fascinating to learn about this animal and if you are interested, check out key deer facts and fallow deer facts, too.
Arabian Gazelle Interesting Facts
What type of animal is an Arabian gazelle?
An Arabian gazelle is a type of gazelle.
What class of animal does an Arabian gazelle belong to?
It is classified under the class of Mammalia.
How many Arabian gazelles are there in the world?
There is no specific estimation available for the total number of Arabian gazelles.
Where does an Arabian gazelle live?
The population of these gazelles is widely spread across the Middle East. This range includes the Arabian Peninsula, Sinai, and Palestine. They are not considered to be endemic to a certain place.
What is an Arabian gazelle's habitat?
The types of habitat in which these Arabian gazelles live consist of hilly and mountainous regions as well as light forests, desert plateaus, and fields. During the day, these gazelles are found in the hills, and during the night and early morning, the gazelles are known to come to lower parts for foraging.
Who do Arabian gazelles live with?
Gazelles are known to live in groups and herds.
How long does an Arabian gazelle live?
The life span of these gazelles is known to be almost eight years in the wild and around 13 years in captivity.
How do they reproduce?
In general, gazelles are known to breed in the rainy season. When the male is prepared to mate, it stretches and lowers its head and neck and tends to follow the females and also make sounds like grunts and moans.
If the female wants to mate, it will urinate and be submissive and its tail will be held out. The pregnancy of the females is six months long after which they give birth to one or two fawns.
Most gazelles are known to give birth twice a year. After around 12 minutes of birth, the fawns can stand up on their own.
For nursing, the fawns live with their mothers and when nursing is completed, the calves join the male herds. Females are known to reach the adult size at about 18 months of age and males reach the adult size at about three years of age.
What is their conservation status?
These gazelles are placed under the Vulnerable category of conservation status.
Arabian Gazelle Fun Facts
What do Arabian gazelles look like?
The most striking feature about these gazelles is that both the sexes of this species tend to have horns. The males tend to have larger horns than females and have rings around their horns, whereas, the females have thinner ones.
The build of this gazelle species is known to be slender and the coat of this gazelle species is dark brown in color and has white underparts. The tail of this gazelle species is short, black, and bushy.
The head and hind legs are proportional. Their ears are comparatively short.
Sexual dimorphism exists in this species and males tend to be larger than females. The young ones of this species might have some white spots which fade as they grow.
How cute are they?
These gazelles are considered cute because of their movement and build.
How do they communicate?
Communication of the gazelles takes place through visual cues and also some noise and sounds.
How big is an Arabian gazelle?
An Arabian gazelle is around 39 in (100 cm) long.
How fast can an Arabian gazelle run?
Gazelles, in general, can reach speeds of around 60 mph (97 kph) and can run for about 15-20 minutes straight.
How much does an Arabian gazelle weigh?
The weight of an Arabian gazelle is around 53 lb (24 kg).
What are the male and female names of the species?
Males and females of this species do not have any sex-specific names.
What would you call a baby Arabian gazelle?
Baby gazelles are known as fawns and calves, and in general, are also referred to as young ones or juveniles.
What do they eat?
The Arabian gazelle is known to feed on shrubs, grasses, leaves, and forbs. It tends to feed early in the morning as, during that time, plants contain the most amount of moisture.
Are they poisonous?
Arabian gazelles are not poisonous.
Would they make a good pet?
In some places, it is illegal to own a gazelle and they do not make great pets as they are fast runners and require large areas for exercising. As well as this, their population is Vulnerable so it would be unethical to keep them in captivity.
Did you know...
Predators of gazelles generally include leopards, lions, cheetahs, wolves, and hyenas.
There are certain strict laws that have been put in place to protect these species from hunting and poaching.
Gazelles are known to outlast and outmaneuver cheetahs.
Gazelles have the ability to shrink their livers and hearts.
It is believed that the word 'gazelle' has its origin from the Arabic word 'ghazal', which is a form of Arabic poetry.
It is believed that some species of gazelles tend to honk when they are worried or nervous.
This is known to be a diurnal, active during the daytime, species.
Gazelles are known to sprint for about 15-20 minutes.
The Arabian gazelles are known to have a great sense of smell, hearing, and vision and these abilities help them in finding food and detecting predators.
The gazelles tend to use a defense mechanism against a threat from predators known as stotting where it bounces around and this is done to alert and warn other gazelles and also to show the predators that they are powerful.
It is believed that competition from livestock has also affected the number of gazelles.
Not much information is available about the subspecies of these gazelles.
Some other members of this genus include mountain gazelle (Gazelle gazella), goitered gazelle (Gazelle subgutturosa), Speke's gazelle (Gazelle spekei), and rhim gazelle (Gazelle leptoceros).
To cool down their body temperatures, these gazelles engage in a process known as rapid nasal panting.
Why is the Arabian gazelle Endangered?
The Arabian gazelle is Vulnerable and at the risk of being Endangered because of factors like climate change, predation, and illegal human hunting. Human construction has also led to the population decline of this gazelle.
What are gazelles known for?
These gazelles are known for their appearance, horns, and also for their running speeds.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other mammals from our Kerry blue terrier fun facts and nutria rat interesting facts pages.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Arabian gazelle coloring pages.
Main image by Ubm007.
Second image by Ubm007.
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