Gerenuk: an upright antelope (10 photos)

The gerenuk, or giraffe gazelle, is an African antelope with graceful, slender legs and a long neck. Just look at how deftly it stands on its hind legs!





Supporters of the theory of evolution say that humans descended from monkeys. Conspiracy theorists claim that our ancestors are dolphins. What if we are descendants of the gerenuk? Look at how deftly this gazelle stands on its hind legs!

Judge for yourself: we and the gerenuk have the same homeland - Africa. Gazelles inhabited the hottest and driest regions of the Black Continent: Ethiopia, Somalia, northern Tanzania. Do you know who else came from these territories? That's right, people! It was from the east of Africa that the great migration of the human race began.



The parameters of the gerenuk are also anthropomorphic: at the withers, the height of the gazelle is no more than a meter. And standing on its hind legs, it grows up to 2 meters! One third of which, however, is on the neck. The ungulate weighs up to 50 kg.





But the most interesting thing is the biological mechanisms that allow gerenuks to stand freely on their feet. They are very similar to ours!

To maintain the body position vertically, the gazelle pumped up the muscles of the chest and back. Below is the unusual structure of the lumbar vertebrae. Most four-legged animals have spinous processes on these vertebrae, located on top of each vertebra. Strong muscles of the lower back and back are attached to them, but they do not allow the spine to effectively straighten in the lumbar region. Gerenuks have reduced spinous processes of the lumbar vertebrae - this is why they stand upright without any problems. Do you know who has them reduced for the same reasons? That's right, us!



And, of course, a photo model neck and legs. The special structure of the cervical vertebrae and muscles allows the animals to hold their neck straight and move it regardless of the position of the body. Therefore, ungulates calmly stand on two limbs and turn their heads in search of a tasty treat.



The second name of the gerenuk is the giraffe gazelle. It is not difficult to guess why.

And the joints that attach the front and back limbs to the body allow the limbs to rotate at a greater angle than other ungulates. So the back legs are fully extended to a vertical position, and the ungulate easily reaches the most delicious branches with its front legs.



So it turns out that it's time to rewrite human history? Of course not! All the parallels we've drawn are nothing more than an interesting coincidence! The gerenuk is an unusual gazelle, but it's still a gazelle. And its life is nothing short of a gazelle's.



All these humanoid gadgets are only needed to feed on the juiciest foliage in the area. Eating what grows underfoot is bad form for gerenuks. Selective animals look for tall flowers, leaves, buds. Such fastidiousness has its advantages. Firstly, the ungulate can go without drinking for weeks - it gets all the moisture it needs from food. Secondly, a condemning face comes as a bonus! The narrow muzzle of gerenuks helps them not only to express their dissatisfaction with others, but also to safely eat leaves from thorny bushes.



But there is little juicy food in African semi-deserts, so the density of the horned population is from 0.5 to 0.05 animals per square kilometer. Ungulates spend most of their time looking for food in small groups of 2-6 animals. Most often, these are females with cubs. Males wander separately from their relatives. They join the herds only when they smell a female in heat. Gerenuks have no breeding season: each guy guards the territory and charms all the ladies who come to see him.



The gentlemen do not participate in raising the offspring. Therefore, after 7 months of pregnancy, the female awaits the fate of a single mother. Fortunately, the gerenuks grow quickly: only a year and a half, and the newly-minted generation is ready to cook their own kind. Females start right away, males wander for a couple more years in search of their own territory and free female hearts.



In the wild, a gazelle lives for about 8 years. Until the gerenuk becomes a snack for lions, hyenas, hyena-like dogs and other toothy African predators. Moreover, ungulates do not run away from a threat, but hide: they freeze in the shade of some bush and hope that no one will notice their skinny limbs. Gerenuks cannot run fast and jump far, like other relatives. Remember the reduced processes of the lumbar vertebrae? Thanks to this, the animals can stand on two hooves, but are not able to start from a place at great speed.