dibatag

dibatag, (Ammodorcas clarkei), a rare member of the gazelle tribe (Antilopini, family Bovidae), indigenous to the Horn of Africa. The dibatag is sometimes mistaken for the related gerenuk.

A selective browser with a narrow, pointed snout, the dibatag is long-legged and long-necked. It stands 80–88 cm (31–35 inches) tall and weighs 22–29 kg (48–64 pounds). It is grayish brown in colour with ochre limbs and white cheek stripe, underparts, and rump. It also has a conspicuous black tail that is held erect during flight. Only males have horns, which are short (25 cm [10 inches]) and curved forward.

The dibatag’s preferred habitat is waterless thornbush dominated by the genera Acacia and Commiphora, but it avoids thickets and very stony ground. It browses very selectively on green foliage, buds, and shoots of evergreen trees and shrubs, which are supplemented by herbs and sprouting grass during the rains. Like the gerenuk, it stands on its hind legs to reach higher foliage. Although the dibatag bears a striking resemblance to the gerenuk in conformation and shared gazelline traits, the two are different enough to be classified in different genera, and the fact that their distributions overlap indicates separation in habitat preferences and diet.

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Formerly widespread in the semiarid and arid lowland plains of Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, the dibatag was virtually eliminated from the northern Ogaden during 20 years of political unrest in the late 20th century, though it is still fairly common at places in the less-populated southern part. In Somalia, drought, overhunting, and habitat degradation caused by excessive numbers of livestock have eliminated the dibatag from most of its former range except for the central coastal hinterland. It is considered by local hunters to be more alert and elusive than any other antelope, but it is unprotected in any reserve and vulnerable to extinction through the attrition of its habitat. There are no dibatags in captivity. Its population density of 0.1–0.3 per square km (0.3–0.8 per square mile) is very low, and its former range, estimated at 200,000 square km (77,000 square miles), has been reduced to perhaps 10,000 square km (4,000 square miles).

As with the gerenuk, dibatag herds are very small. Singles and doubles are most common, although groups of up to five females and young have been recorded. Males patrol and mark their territories with dung middens and preorbital gland secretions that they deposit on twigs. Most births occur during the short rains of October and November, six months after mating peaks during the short rains of April and May.