A slim, medium-sized antelope that looks like a warm, sunlit version of a classic gazelle. Its coat is a soft sandy tan with a richer reddish tone over the forehead and face, which is where it gets its name. Down each side runs a narrow black stripe that neatly separates the tan flanks from the clean white belly, like a carefully drawn line on a painting. Both males and females have S-shaped, ringed horns, though the males’ are thicker and a bit longer.

This gazelle lives across the Sahel, the long, dry belt of land that stretches from Senegal on the Atlantic coast to Ethiopia on the edge of the Red Sea. Instead of dense forests or true desert, it prefers open grasslands sprinkled with thorny bushes and scattered trees, where there is enough cover to hide but still space to see danger coming. It is not a true desert animal, so it often feeds closer to the Sahara during the rainy season when fresh grass appears, then moves southwards in the dry months to find better grazing and more reliable water. Like many gazelles, it can go for long periods without drinking, getting much of its moisture from the plants it eats and resting through the hottest part of the day to save energy and water.

Red-fronted gazelles have flexible social lives. You can find them alone, in pairs or in small groups of usually just a few animals, often one male with several females and their young. From time to time, slightly larger groups form where food is good, but they rarely come together in the huge herds that some other African antelopes make. They feed mainly on grasses but will happily nibble leaves and shoots from shrubs and small trees when the ground is dry.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Burkina Faso

2016

Cameroon

2016

Central Af. Rep.

2016

Chad

2016

Ghana

Official estimate

EX

Extinct locally

Mali

2016

Mauritania

2016

Niger

2016

Nigeria

2016

Senegal

2016

Sudan

2016