Goitered gazelle
Gazella subgutturosa
Nikita Tiunov · Kakheti Georgia field photo
Key facts in one look
- Size
- 60–75 cm at the shoulder, 18–43 kg
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Status in Georgia
- Extinct by the end of the 20th century, restored since 2013
- Habitat
- Open, dry plains and semi-desert
- Family
- Bovidae
- Conservation
- VU (global) / CR (Georgia)
The goitered gazelle has already vanished from Georgia once. In the second half of the 19th century it was widespread on the plains of eastern Georgia, and by the end of the 20th century it was extinct. Since 2013, animals brought from Azerbaijan have been released on the Samukhi plain next to the Vashlovani Protected Areas, and they are already breeding there. It is a light, sand-coloured antelope of open, dry plains and semi-deserts. If you see it in Vashlovani, watch from a distance: this is still a small and fragile population.
Identification
Goitered gazelle: how to identify it
The goitered gazelle is a small, slender-legged antelope with a sandy back and a white belly. Males carry black, lyre-shaped horns, while most females have none. When it runs, it raises its tail, and the black tip shows from far away. On an open plain you will hardly mistake it for another hoofed animal, though from a distance it may remind you of a roe deer.
Head and body length is 93–116 cm, and shoulder height 60–75 cm. Males weigh 20–43 kg, females 18–33 kg. The build is light, with long, slender legs.
The male's horns are black and lyre-shaped, about 30 cm long, with cross rings. Most females have no horns, though some grow rudimentary horns of 3–5 cm. In the mating season the male's throat and larynx swell. The name subgutturosa means just that: "full below the throat".
The back and flanks are sandy, while the belly, neck and inner legs are white. The winter coat is paler than the summer one. The white patch at the base of the tail is small, and the tail has a black tip. A raised black tail on a running animal is one of its best field marks.
The roe deer belongs to the deer family, and the male grows new antlers every year. The gazelle's horns are permanent, black and ringed. The roe deer lives mainly in forest and at its edges, the gazelle on open, dry plains. If you see a sandy animal on a bare, wormwood plain, it is most likely a gazelle.
Often confused with
The goitered gazelle is an animal of open, dry country. It lives in deserts and semi-deserts, on sand and gravel plains, in foothills and in mountain valleys. In Georgia its habitat is open plains with wormwood and saline soils. Elsewhere in its range it goes up to 3,500 m, and in winter it seeks windy, snow-free ground. In the second half of the 19th century the gazelle was widespread on the Samgori, Gardabani, Shiraki and Eldari plains of eastern Georgia and in the semi-desert zone. In the 1920s–1940s, after the land was turned over to farming, its range shrank sharply. Until the 1980s it was still found in the eastern Shiraki plain, around Tbilisi, on the Gardabani and Samgori plains and along the lower Iori. Today the gazelle lives in eastern Georgia on the Samukhi plain next to the Vashlovani Protected Areas, where it has been resettled since 2013.
The goitered gazelle is a herbivore and feeds mainly on grasses. It also eats salt-tolerant plants, legumes, other herbs and shrubs, including tamarisk. Near farmland it eats wheat and barley shoots and other crops. It gets most of its water from plants, so on a dry plain it can go a long time without a spring.
The goitered gazelle usually moves in small groups of 2–9 animals, although herds of thousands have been recorded elsewhere in its range. Adult males are solitary and territorial. In summer it grazes mainly in the early morning and in the afternoon, and in winter almost all day, with a short midday rest. It covers 10–15 km a day between pastures, water and resting places. Where it is hunted heavily, it switches to a nocturnal life. The rut lasts from the second half of November to the end of December. At this time an adult male leads a group of 3–5 animals and drives off young males. Gestation lasts 5–5.5 months, and the young are born in April–May: 1–2, rarely 3. An adult female usually has twins, a young one a single calf. In the first days the calf lies motionless under a bush while the mother grazes nearby. Females start breeding at 18–19 months, males at 2.5 years. In the wild it lives 6 years on average, at most 12.
Globally the goitered gazelle is Vulnerable (VU, 2017). In 2001 its numbers were estimated at 120,000–140,000, after a decline of more than 30% over the previous decade. The main threats are poaching, conversion of the plains to farmland and development, and harsh winters. Georgia's 2014 Red List lists the gazelle as Regionally Extinct (RE), wiped out at the end of the 20th century. Here it was lost to illegal hunting, ploughing of the plains, growing numbers of livestock, especially flocks of sheep, and the spread of settlements. Under a restoration effort running since 2013, more than 70 animals had been brought from Azerbaijan by 2019, and by 2018 a third generation had been born in Georgia. A 2021 assessment rates the new Georgian population as Critically Endangered (CR): the 2020 count found about 130 animals. Reports from 2021 put their number above 200. Hunting the gazelle is prohibited.
Nikita Tiunov · rwcannon57 · Terry Townshend · Mehmet Çelik · Fabian A. Boetzl · Axel Gosseries
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Yes, although it has vanished once already. It died out in Georgia at the end of the 20th century, and since 2013 animals brought from Azerbaijan have been resettled here. It now lives on the Samukhi plain next to the Vashlovani Protected Areas and breeds there. It does not live anywhere else in Georgia today.
In the second half of the 19th century it was widespread on the plains of eastern Georgia: the Samgori, Gardabani, Shiraki and Eldari plains. In the 1920s–1940s, after the plains were ploughed, its range shrank sharply. Until the 1980s it was still found in the eastern Shiraki plain, around Tbilisi and along the lower Iori. So the gazelle is an old native of the plains near Tbilisi.
It is a small, slender-legged, sand-coloured antelope with a white belly. Males carry black, lyre-shaped, ringed horns, while most females have none. When it runs, it raises its tail and the black tip shows clearly. On an open, dry plain an animal like this is almost always a gazelle.
It stands 60–75 cm at the shoulder, with a head and body length of 93–116 cm. Males weigh 20–43 kg, females 18–33 kg. The build is light, with long, slender legs.
It is a herbivore. It eats mainly grasses, along with salt-tolerant plants, legumes and shrubs. It gets most of its water from plants. That is why it can go a long time without a spring on a dry plain.
No. The gazelle does not attack people and runs away when it senses danger. The danger runs the other way: from people and dogs. Watch a herd from a distance, do not follow it and keep your dog on a lead.
Yes. Globally it is Vulnerable (VU, 2017). Georgia's 2014 Red List lists it as Regionally Extinct, and a 2021 assessment rates the restored population as Critically Endangered (CR). Hunting the gazelle is prohibited.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
