THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XII.J. Smit del & lith.Hanhart imp.The White-tailed Gnu.CONNOCHÆTES GNU.Published by R. H. Porter.
THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XII.
J. Smit del & lith.
Hanhart imp.
The White-tailed Gnu.
CONNOCHÆTES GNU.
Published by R. H. Porter.
Bos gnou,Zimm.Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 372 (1777).Antilope gnou,Zimm.Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 102 (1780);Bodd.Elench. Anim. p. 138 (1785);Schr.Säug. pl. cclxxx. (animal) (1787).Antilope gnu,Gmel.Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 189 (1788);Kerr, Linn. An. K. p. 315 (1792);Donnd.Zool. Beytr. p. 634 (1792);Link, Beytr. Nat. i. pt. 2, p. 100 (1795);Bechst.Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i. p. 64 (1799), ii. p. 641 (1800);Shaw, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 357, pl. 196 (1801); Turt. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 114 (1802);Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) ix. p. 516 (1803);G. Cuv.Diet. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 247 (1804);Ill.Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 106 (1811);Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 165 (1814);G. Fisch.Zoogn. iii. p. 418 (1814);Afzel.N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815);Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 201 (1816);Goldf.in Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1165 (1820);F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) i. livr. xvi. (animal) (1820);Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 399 (1821);Desmoul.Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822);Burchell, List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 7 (1823);Less.Man. Mamm. p. 385 (1827);Fisch.Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829);Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);Oken, Allgem. Naturgesch. vii. p. 1400 (1838);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 473 (1844), v. p. 448 (1855);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 445 (1845);Gieb.Säug. p. 299 (1859).Antilope capensis,Gatt.Brev. Zool. i. p. 80 (1780).Bos gnu,Thunb.Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 318 (1811).Cerophorus (Boselaphus) gnu,Blainv.Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.Cemas gnu,Oken, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. pt. 2, p. 728 (1816).Antilope (Boselaphus) gnu,Desm.Mamm. ii. p. 472 (1822).Catoblepas gnu,Ham. Sm.Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 367, v. p. 368 (1827);Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 93 (1832);A. Sm.S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 224 (1834);Less.Compl. Buff. x. p. 305 (1836);Harr.Wild Anim. S. Afr. pl. i. (animal) (1840);Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843);id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847);Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 205 (1846);id.ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 156; Reprint, p. 80 (1848);Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 19 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 138;Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 182 (1869);Murie, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 475;Drummond, Large Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875);Buckley, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 286, 292 (distribution);Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 287 (fig. animal) (1880);Blaauw, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iii. p. 494 (1886) (breeding in Holland);id.P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2, figs. A-D (growth of horns);Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, p. 293 (1889).Catoblepas operculatus,Brookes, Cat. Mus. p. 64 (1828).Bos connochætes,Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 392 (1844).Connochætes gnu,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 119 (1852);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243 (1862);Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) iv. p. 291 (fig. of young horns) (1869);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. p. 113 (1873);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883);Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (3) ix. p. 678, x. p. 95 (1883) (breeding in Paris);Flow. & Gars.Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 274 (1884);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 138 (1887);W. Scl.Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 170 (1891);Flow. & Lyd.Mamm. p. 336, fig. 139 (animal) (1891);Ward, Horn Meas. p. 74 (1892);Nicolls & Egl.Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 48, pl. vii. fig. 25 (head) (1892);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 170 (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 205 (1893).
Bos gnou,Zimm.Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 372 (1777).
Antilope gnou,Zimm.Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 102 (1780);Bodd.Elench. Anim. p. 138 (1785);Schr.Säug. pl. cclxxx. (animal) (1787).
Antilope gnu,Gmel.Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 189 (1788);Kerr, Linn. An. K. p. 315 (1792);Donnd.Zool. Beytr. p. 634 (1792);Link, Beytr. Nat. i. pt. 2, p. 100 (1795);Bechst.Uebers. vierf. Thiere, i. p. 64 (1799), ii. p. 641 (1800);Shaw, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 357, pl. 196 (1801); Turt. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 114 (1802);Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (1) ix. p. 516 (1803);G. Cuv.Diet. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 247 (1804);Ill.Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 106 (1811);Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. Berl. vi. p. 165 (1814);G. Fisch.Zoogn. iii. p. 418 (1814);Afzel.N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 219 (1815);Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 201 (1816);Goldf.in Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1165 (1820);F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) i. livr. xvi. (animal) (1820);Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 399 (1821);Desmoul.Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822);Burchell, List Quadr. pres. to B. M. p. 7 (1823);Less.Man. Mamm. p. 385 (1827);Fisch.Syn. Mamm. p. 475 (1829);Waterh.Cat. Mamm. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 41 (1838);Oken, Allgem. Naturgesch. vii. p. 1400 (1838);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Supp. iv. p. 473 (1844), v. p. 448 (1855);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 445 (1845);Gieb.Säug. p. 299 (1859).
Antilope capensis,Gatt.Brev. Zool. i. p. 80 (1780).
Bos gnu,Thunb.Mém. Ac. Pétersb. iii. p. 318 (1811).
Cerophorus (Boselaphus) gnu,Blainv.Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.
Cemas gnu,Oken, Lehrb. Naturgesch. iii. pt. 2, p. 728 (1816).
Antilope (Boselaphus) gnu,Desm.Mamm. ii. p. 472 (1822).
Catoblepas gnu,Ham. Sm.Griff. Cuv. An. K. iv. p. 367, v. p. 368 (1827);Smuts, En. Mamm. Cap. p. 93 (1832);A. Sm.S.-Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 224 (1834);Less.Compl. Buff. x. p. 305 (1836);Harr.Wild Anim. S. Afr. pl. i. (animal) (1840);
Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843);id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 232 (1846);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847);Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Hand-l. 1844, p. 205 (1846);id.ibid. Hornschuch’s Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 156; Reprint, p. 80 (1848);Gray, Knowsl. Men. p. 19 (1850);id.P. Z. S. 1850, p. 138;Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 195 (1853);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 182 (1869);Murie, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 475;Drummond, Large Game S. Afr. p. 425 (1875);Buckley, P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 286, 292 (distribution);Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 287 (fig. animal) (1880);Blaauw, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iii. p. 494 (1886) (breeding in Holland);id.P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2, figs. A-D (growth of horns);Bryden, Kloof and Karroo, p. 293 (1889).
Catoblepas operculatus,Brookes, Cat. Mus. p. 64 (1828).
Bos connochætes,Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 392 (1844).
Connochætes gnu,Gray, Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 119 (1852);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 243 (1862);Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) iv. p. 291 (fig. of young horns) (1869);id.Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. p. 113 (1873);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883);Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (3) ix. p. 678, x. p. 95 (1883) (breeding in Paris);Flow. & Gars.Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 274 (1884);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 138 (1887);W. Scl.Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 170 (1891);Flow. & Lyd.Mamm. p. 336, fig. 139 (animal) (1891);Ward, Horn Meas. p. 74 (1892);Nicolls & Egl.Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 48, pl. vii. fig. 25 (head) (1892);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 170 (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 205 (1893).
Vernacular Names:—Gnu,White-tailed Gnu, orBlack Wildebeestof English Cape colonists;Zwart Wildebeestof Dutch colonists;Inkonkoneof Kaffirs (Drummond);Imbutumaof Zulus (Rendall).
Vernacular Names:—Gnu,White-tailed Gnu, orBlack Wildebeestof English Cape colonists;Zwart Wildebeestof Dutch colonists;Inkonkoneof Kaffirs (Drummond);Imbutumaof Zulus (Rendall).
Size rather less than inC. taurinus. General colour dark brown or blackish, the upwardly-directed facial tuft, the long hairs of the nape, throat, and chest black. Tail very long; its thick tuft reaching nearly to the ground; its colour white, except just at the base, where it is like the back.
Skull shorter than inC. taurinus, but lengthened above, owing to the horn-bases being prolonged backwards to support the enormous palms of the horns, beyond the level of the occiput. Nasals short and broad.
Measurements:—basal length 15·5 inches, greatest breadth 6·4, muzzle to orbit 9·3.
Horns with very large longitudinally developed palms, frequently attaining 8 inches in their greatest diameter. Proximal half of horn directed downwards, outwards, and forwards, then rapidly recurved, the end, whichis about 10 or 12 inches in length, pointing nearly vertically upwards. Measured from the top of the palm outside the curves to the tip, good horns attain from 24 to 26 inches.
Hab.South Africa, south of the Limpopo.
Hab.South Africa, south of the Limpopo.
The extraordinary form of the Gnu quickly attracted the notice of the early Dutch settlers at the Cape. They called it the “Wilde-Beest” supposing it to be a wild form of the domestic cattle, whilst the native name was stated to beGnouorGnu. As early as 1776 a living specimen of the Gnu appears to have reached Amsterdam, and was described by Allamand[8], whose account of it was copied by Buffon in the Supplement to his ‘Histoire Naturelle,’ and by Vosmaer[9]. In 1777 Zimmermann latinized the native name, and used it specifically asgnou. This term was softened by Gmelin intognu, and thus modified has been generally adopted as the specific name of this Antelope.
The older authors described the Gnu as lively, active, and petulant, trotting, ambling, and galloping with great swiftness; the males bellowing somewhat like a bull, the young ones having a “nasal murmur.” “They are sportive, and when alarmed always commence by playing with each other, striking sideways with their horns; but this lasts only for a moment, and the whole troop soon flies away across the desert with amazing speed.” By the year 1820 the Gnu appears to have been driven far from the neighbourhood of Cape Town, and even at that period not to have been found nearer than the Karroo district.
Sir Andrew Smith, whose expedition into the interior took place in 1834, 1835, and 1836, gives the grassy plains north of the Vaal River as the ordinary habitation of the Gnu at that epoch. After the fall of the summer rains the present species, he tells us, leaving its congener, the Brindled Gnu, behind, passes the Orange River into the Cape Colony. Here it becomes the prey of the hunters of all sorts who at this season turn out every year to track and slaughter the advancing herds.
Cornwallis Harris, who visited the Cape Colony shortly afterwards, tells us nearly the same story. He likewise found the Gnu, to the illustration ofwhich he devotes the first plate of his great artistic work on the ‘Game-Animals of South Africa,’ abundant in the open plains of the Vaal River, and still to be met with even in some parts of the Colony. The hunt of the Wildebeest, Harris tells us, “forms a favourite diversion of the Dutch colonists, and occupies a very large portion of the apparently valueless time of thetrek-boors, or nomad farmers, who graze their overgrown flocks and herds on the verdant meadows lying beyond the borders of the sterile colony. The carcase of a full-grown Wildebeest, even when ‘broken,’ forms a fair load for a pack-horse; the flesh, which is very insipid and usually quite destitute of fat, resembling very coarse beef in quality. A joint is therefore never dressed by the good vrow without having first been garnished with huge lumps of sheep’s-tail fat,—asine quâ nonin Dutch cookery,—dexterously thrust with the point of the thumb into perforations carved for their reception. This done, it is placed in the iron oven, with abundance of lard, and literally baked to rags! On account of its leanness, however, it is generally cut into strips, and converted into ‘biltong,’ by being dried in the sun. The silky tail of the Gnoo, which is in great demand for making chowries, forms an article of export; and the hide, when brayed, is employed by the colonists forriems, or thongs, with which to harness oxen in the team, and indeed for every purpose to which hempen rope, twine, and string are usually applied in other countries.”
At the present time, we fear, the White-tailed Gnu affords neither sport nor food to the Boer hunter. Modern authorities assure us that this Antelope, formerly found in such vast numbers on the plains of the interior, now only remains upon one or two farms in the north of the Cape Colony in Victoria West. So late as from 1850 to 1857 it was still fairly abundant between Colesberg and Hanover, but has now perished in this district. Moreover, as this species has never been known to exist beyond the Limpopo, there is not the slightest chance of its being found anywhere further north.
The White-tailed Gnu is an apt subject for domestication. Cornwallis Harris tells us that “when captured young it may easily be reared by hand upon cow’s milk, and may readily be induced to herd with cattle upon the farm, going out to the pasture, and returning with them, and exhibiting little inclination to reclaim its pristine liberty.” It has thus happened that specimens of it have been brought to Europe from an early period. We have already mentioned that one was living at Amsterdam in 1776, andothers, no doubt, were introduced subsequently. In the Knowsley Menagerie both the White-tailed and Brindled Gnus found a place, and the young of both the species were figured from life by Waterhouse Hawkins, as we know from the series of magnificent drawings of the animals in the Knowsley Menagerie issued in 1850.
Fig. 15.Young White-tailed Gnu (five months old).(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)
Fig. 15.
Young White-tailed Gnu (five months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)
At the Knowsley auction in 1851 only a pair of the present species were put up for sale. They were purchased by a dealer for Wombwell’s Menagerie at the price of £283 10s.
The Zoological Society seems to have acquired examples of the White-tailed Gnu as early as 1830, and this animal has remained represented in the collection, except for a few short intervals, ever since. Unfortunately, however, the Society was never successful in getting a breeding pair together until about two years ago, when a fine young male and two females were purchased of Mr. C. Reiche, of Alfeld. These have thriven well in the Antelope-House, and the first young Gnu was born on the 7th of March last. It grew fast and at the present time it is nearly as large as its parents.
Fig. 15a.Young White-tailed Gnu (eight months old).(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)
Fig. 15a.
Young White-tailed Gnu (eight months old).
(Zool. Soc. Gard. 1894.)
The accompanying drawings by Mr. Smit (figs. 15 and 15a) show this animal at the respective ages of five months and eight months.
The most successful results, however, in breeding the White-tailed Gnu have been obtained by Mr. F. E. Blaauw, Secretary to the Royal Zoological Society of Amsterdam, in his park at Westerveld, near Hilversum, in North Holland, on which he has been kind enough to furnish us with the following information:—Mr. Blaauw purchased his first pair of Gnus in 1886 from the Jardin d’Acclimatation at Paris. They arrived in winter and were kept in a covered shed without artificial warmth until the following spring, when they were turned out to a grass enclosure of about eight acres, well sheltered by plantations, and with a shed divided into compartments in one corner. The Gnus and their descendants have been kept in this enclosure ever since. In winter they are usually confined inside the house and fed on hay and oats, because the young ones are frequently born in winter and require a certain amount of protection. In the summer the Gnus never enter the shed, and subsist entirely by grazing.
Treated in this fashion the Gnus in Mr. Blaauw’s possession have succeeded in a wonderful way. From the single pair originally purchased and the two young females first born, no less than fourteen young Gnus have been successfully reared, and only two have been lost, having been born in the open field during severe frost.
Mr. Blaauw’s present herd consists of the original pair purchased in 1886, two adult females (the offspring of this pair born in 1886 and 1887), and two young ones born in May and June of the present year.
Mr. Blaauw has ascertained by frequent observation that the period of gestation in the White-tailed Gnu varies from 8¼ to 8½ months. Only a single young one has ever been produced at a birth. The female suckles her young for seven or eight months, but it commences to eat grass when about a week old.
In the ‘Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society of London, Mr. Blaauw has published an article on the development of the horns of the young Gnu, two of the figures of which we are enabled to reproduce here by the kind permission of that Society. The first figure (15b) represents the first stage of the horns, in which they are perfectly straight and more or less divergent; the second figure (15c) represents the horns when the animal is about 19 months old. The former straight portion has now become the terminal half, and the basal portion, though not yet quite fully developed, inclines downwards and outwards. The bases of the horns are still far apart, andthere is a wide piece of hairy scalp between them. In the adult stage (as shown in Plate XII.) the basal ends of the horns become enormously swollen (especially in the male) and nearly meet together in the middle line. It should be further remarked that these swollen basal portions, which are smooth at first, become excessively corrugated and more highly developed when the animals get old.
Fig. 15b.Horns of young Gnu (11 weeks old).(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2.)
Fig. 15b.
Horns of young Gnu (11 weeks old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 2.)
Fig. 15c.Horns of young Gnu (19 months old).(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 3.)
Fig. 15c.
Horns of young Gnu (19 months old).
(P. Z. S. 1889, p. 3.)
The females of the Gnu, according to Mr. Blaauw’s observation, are very prolific. They begin to breed before they are two years old, and bear a calf regularly nearly every fifteen months. They seem to stand the damp and cold of the Dutch climate without the slightest difficulty. It would even appear that they are specially suitable to domestication, as the animals born in captivity exceed on an average the size of those freshly imported from South Africa.
The White-tailed Gnu is only represented in the National Collection at the British Museum by a single immature female, mounted, and not now in good condition, besides several skulls and horns. A good wild-killed specimen of it, were it possible to obtain such an animal, would be, therefore, very acceptable.
January, 1895.