Gazella spekei
The Speke’s Gazelle lives in semi-desert grasslands in Somalia and possibly Ethiopia.
The nose of the Speke’s gazelle is its most unique feature, because it has a sac that can inflated to the size of half of a tennis ball when the animal is excited. This allows the gazelle to increase the volume of its call, which resembles a honking sound.
Speke’s gazelles live in herds of 5 to 12 animals, but when food is scarce, smaller groups may merge into herds of up to 20 animals. Similar to other species of gazelle, when they are excited or alarmed, Speke’s gazelles use a “pronk” behavior, a combination of running, bouncing, and jumping.
The picture of this gazelle was taken at the zoo of Portland, Oregon, in April 2004.
Genus Gazella
Subfamily Antilopinae
Family Bovidae
Order Artiodactyla
Subclass Eutheria
Class Mammalia
Subphylum Vertebrata
Phylum Chordata
Kingdom Animalia
Life on Earth
Index