Gazella leptoceros
A medium-sized gazelle with a very pale yellowish beige back, separated from the white belly by a slightly darker band
on the flank. The face and neck are concolourous with the back. Facial markings are faint. The ears are long and narrow.
Horns are long, erect, divergent and nearly straight in both sexes.(Groves, 1988), with 20-25 well-defined rings. They
are appreciably thicker and longer in males, up to 350-400mm. Outer hooves are broader than the inner ones. (Kingdon,
1997), the widening of the surface facilitating movements on sand (LeBerre, 1990). The rump patch is white with very
little outline. The tail is short, terminated by a tuff of black hair.
The Slender-horned Gazelle is a poorly known species, compared with the other gazelles.
TL (male and female): 100 (90-110) cm
T (male and female): 15-20 cm
Height: 65-72 cm
The Slender-horned Gazelle, or Rhim, is typically associated with the habitat of sand dunes, especially the extensive dunes of Great Western Erg and Great Eastern Erg. In recent years, the presence of this gazelle has been reported in four North African countries: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.
Recent observations show that this Gazelle lives in small herds consisting of females and their young. These small groups may be accompanied by a male but they are often lonely. This small gazelle feeds mainly by selecting the richest in a wide range of plants.
Very discreet, this gazelle has an excellent pale camouflage in the sand and therefore difficult to study. Moreover, the regions where she lives, mostly through a habitat of sand dunes, are difficult to access and difficult to navigate. The MiHR remains one of the most poorly understood of all species of endangered gazelles of the Sahara.
The hunting is the main threats to the gazelle. Officially protected in most of its range, this gazelle doesn’t benefit on the ground of real conservation measures.
Currently better management of protected areas, restoration of semi-captive populations of Addax and Oryx in their original habitat, long term could also be beneficial for the leptoceros. The planned development of a protected area around Siwa and Shiyata lake in the west of Egypt would also be conducive to the protection of this species. (according to the articles of Dr. Tim Wacher)
Residual distribution
G. l. leptoceros was eliminated from the biggest part of its range of distribution in the Egyptian Western Desert. In the 1980s, the species was considered extinct in five of its six known localities in the eastern part of the Western Desert and very rare in the sixth, the complex of the Wadi el Ruwayan and its extension, the Wadi Muweilih. In the western part of the desert, around the Quattara depression and the Siwa oasis, its status was uncertain. The small group of about 20 animals that was surviving in the Wadi el Ruwayan has been exterminated since then. Small groups (2-6) of Slender-Horned Gazelle were observed and photographed west of the Siwa oasis in 1998, but the situation has become uncertain since reports of more than 20 being killed by a single hunting party in that region in 2005. Small numbers may possibly persist in other parts of the the Quattara depression, the Jaghbub oasis, and the Kharga oasis. It’s current status in Libya is unclear
There are relatively recent observations in most of the historical zones of distribution of Gazella leptoceros loderi.
In Algeria, the species is distributed east of a line Saoura - Wadi Messaoud, in the Great Western Erg, the Great Eastern Erg, the Hamada de Tinrhert, and the smaller ergs around the central Saharan massifs of the Hoggar and the Tassili des Ajjers, in particular the Ahmer erg.
In Tunisia, Gazella leptoceros loderi is present in unknown numbers, probably relatively low, in the Great Eastern Erg.
In Libya, the distribution of central Saharan populations of Gazella leptoceros loderi includes the sandy zones of the Fezzan where there have been recent observations.
The species probably still occurs in Mali.
The range of populations of Gazella leptoceros loderi living in the ergs surrounding the massifs of the Hoggar and the Tassili indeed probably extends as far as Mali in the Tanezrouft and in the vicinity of the Adrar des Iforas.
IUCN RED LIST 2007: ENDANGERED (EN) A taxon is Endangered when it is considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
