goat antelope

goat antelope
any of several wild goats with antelopelike features, including the chamois, goral, serow, and Rocky Mountain goat.
[1840-50]

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mammal
also called  rupicaprin 

      goatlike mammals (mammal) of the subfamily Caprinae (family Bovidae (bovid), order Artiodactyla (artiodactyl)). Goat antelopes owe their name to their physical characteristics, which are intermediate between those of the stockily built goats (goat) (subfamily Caprinae) and the long-legged antelopes (antelope) (subfamily Antilopinae). Some taxonomists (taxonomy) split this tribe into Naemorhedini ( serow, Capricornis species; goral, Naemorhedus species) and true Rupicaprini ( chamois, Rupicapra species; mountain goat Oreamnos species).

 Goat antelopes are well adapted to life in precipitous, rocky terrain and can stand the cold well. Males are the same size as or slightly larger than females. Both sexes have dark brown, short, backward-curving, stiletto-like horns. Such effective weapons are readily used in fights among themselves and against predators.

      Goat antelopes vary in the location and use of scent glands. The goral has very small preorbital glands (gland), the chamois and mountain goat have two large supraoccipital glands, and the serow bears large preorbital glands. Chamois and serow use their secretions from these glands to leave territorial olfactory signs and to scent-mark stems, bushes, and tree trunks as a dominance display during aggressive interactions with others of their species. The use of these glands in mountain goats is still unknown: they are rudimentary but become large in mature males during the rut. All goat antelopes have their mating periods in autumn and early winter, but tropical populations of serow and goral may rut at any time of the year. Normally, only one kid is delivered, after five to six months of gestation.

      It has been suggested that goat antelopes are the living ancestors of sheep and goats, because they are much less differentiated in their morphology and behaviour than are species of Ovis and Capra. Such a view is not fully supported by genetic (genetics) and paleontological (paleontology) data, however. Goat antelopes bear some common anatomical and behavioral traits, but they should certainly not be considered anything more than a loosely knit group, with only the serow and the goral being closely related to each other. The group probably originated 5–7 million years ago in Central and East Asia. The Rupicaprini tribe must have split no less than 4–5 million years ago, with the chamois and some extinct forms reaching Europe 1.5–2.5 million years ago (most likely using mountain chains and steep river banks as corridors), the mountain goat passing to North America through the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, and the goral and serow staying in Asia. Since then, epigenetic and genetic factors must have acted to differentiate the genera strongly, even if originally they all belonged to the same tribe. While chamois and mountain goats are abundant, most species of the serow and goral are presently declining or threatened with local extinction, mainly because of poaching and the destruction of their forested mountain habitats (habitat).

Sandro Lovari
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Goat antelope — Goat Goat (g[=o]t), n. [OE goot, got, gat, AS. g[=a]t; akin to D. geit, OHG. geiz, G. geiss, Icel. geit, Sw. get, Dan. ged, Goth. gaits, L. haedus a young goat, kid.] (Zo[ o]l.) A hollow horned ruminant of the genus {Capra}, of several species… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • goat-antelope — goatˈ antelope noun A goatlike antelope, or an animal intermediate between goat and antelope, such as the chamois and the goral • • • Main Entry: ↑goat …   Useful english dictionary

  • goat antelope — n. any of several bovid ruminants intermediate in their characteristics between goats and antelopes, as the serow, goral, and chamois …   English World dictionary

  • Goat-antelope — Taxobox name = Goat antelopes image width = 250px image caption = Barbary Sheep, Ammotragus lervia regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Mammalia ordo = Artiodactyla familia = Bovidae subfamilia = Caprinae Gray, 1821 Pantholopinae… …   Wikipedia

  • goat antelope — noun bovid related to goats but having antelope like features: mountain goats; gorals; serows; chamois; gnu goats • Hypernyms: ↑bovid • Hyponyms: ↑mountain goat, ↑Rocky Mountain goat, ↑Oreamnos americanus, ↑goral, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • goat antelope — goat′ an telope n. mam any of several bovids with both goatlike and antelopelike features • Etymology: 1840–50 …   From formal English to slang

  • goat antelope — /goʊt ˈæntəloʊp/ (say goht antuhlohp) noun 1. a goat like antelope of the genus Naemorhedus, as the goral, N. goral, or N. crispus of Japan. 2. any antelope of the tribe Rupicaprini, a subdivision of the sheep and goat family, and including the… …  

  • goat antelope — noun Any of a group of herbivore mammals, the subfamily Caprinae, that includes domestic sheep and goats …   Wiktionary

  • goat-antelope — noun a ruminant mammal of a group including the chamois and musk ox, with characteristics of both goats and antelopes. [Subfamily Caprinae.] …   English new terms dictionary

  • Goat — (g[=o]t), n. [OE goot, got, gat, AS. g[=a]t; akin to D. geit, OHG. geiz, G. geiss, Icel. geit, Sw. get, Dan. ged, Goth. gaits, L. haedus a young goat, kid.] (Zo[ o]l.) A hollow horned ruminant of the genus {Capra}, of several species and… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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