erus quadricornis

ur-horned antelope, Chousingha

Classification
Binomial name
Kingdom: Animalia Tetracerus
Phylum: Chordata quadricornis
Blainville, 1816
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Tetracerus
Species: Quadricornis
Tetra (Greek) four;
Keras (Greek) the horn of an animal.
 Quadri- (Latin) prefix meaning four;
Cornu (Latin) the horn of an animal:
Tetracerus quadricornis means
a four-horned four-horn
an appropriate name for this unique ungulate.
These animals are grouped in separate
subfamily the Boselaphinae .
onservation Status

Four Horned Antelope

The four-horned antelope is considered vulnerable by the IUCN (1996).

The four-horned antelope is considered vulnerable by the IUCN (1996).

Why this animal is “Threatened” ????

1. Poaching
2. Lack of wild life management
3. Lack of wild life awareness
4. Excessive hunting
Family group: Usually solitary or in pairs.
Diet: Leaves, grasses, shoots, fruit, dependent on
water.

Main Predators: Tiger, leopard, wolf, small

cats.
Habitats

Undulating or hill country shelters in tall grass.

Open jungle , a terrain more unusual
to deer than to antelope.
The four-horned antelope is rarely
found away from water place, and must drink
regularly in order to survive.
 In Indian subcontinent

Its primary distribution is in India extending South of the

Gangetic plains down till the state of Tamilnadu.

Orissa constitutes the Eastern boundary of its distribution,

whereas the fragmented population at Gir

is its westernmost distribution.
 A small population is also found in the drier forests of
Nepal.
Map (Redrawn from Walther, 1990)
Woodlands of the India.
Dimensions

65 cm height.
Posterior horns 8-10 cm.
 Anterior 1-2.5 cm .
Weight: 15-25 kg / 33-55 lb
Body Length: 90-110 cm / 3-3.6 ft.
 Shoulder Height:55-65 cm / 1.8-2.1 ft.
Distinctive Characters

The more obvious points of distinction

is the structure of the horns
which are not ringed as the true antelopes .
They are keeled in front .
The females are hornless .
Body Characters
The short, coarse coat yellow-brown to dark
reddish-brown.
Undersides and inside surfaces of the legs whitish.
 The nose is generally darker.
The legs are slender, and the rump is higher than
the rest of the body.
The gait of this antelope when walking or running
is jerky.
rns -The special feature
The smooth, conical horns, found only in the
male of this species, are nearly straight and point upwards.
 The main pair, found just in front of the ears grows
5-12 cm / 2- 4.8 inches long.
 Usually there is a second, shorter pair of horns on
the foremost part of the forehead,
reaching a length of only 2- 4 cm / 0.8-1.6 inches.
These secondary horns may fall off in older animals, or
may merely be represented by nodules of black,
hairless skin.
reeding in captivity

Easily tamed when young, the chousingha

is very delicate in captivity.
 Population densities are usually less
then 0.5 animals per square kilometer.
The cage dimensions should be 2.5 x 1.5 x 2.00 .
Four horned antelope in
one of the zoos in
Karnataka.
Ontogeny and Reproduction
a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually
from a simple to a more complex level.

Gestation Period : 7.5-8 months

Litter size : 1-3
Life span : Up to 10 years.
Mating takes place during the July-September i.e.rainy season
Youngs are born from October to February
References
•Mallon (2003). Tetracerus quadricornis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May
2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is vulnerable
•Sharma, K., Rahmani, A. R. and Chundawat, R. S. (2005). Ecology and Distribution of Four-horned antelope in India:
Final Report. Bombay Natural History Society.
•Literature Cited
•Walther, F. R. 1990. Spiral-horned antelopes. In Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals. Edited by S. P. Parker. New
York: McGraw-Hill. Volume 5, pp. 344-359. Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder [editors]. 1993. Mammal Species of the
World (Second Edition). Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Available online at http://nmnhwww.si.edu/msw/
•Additional Resources
•Boitani, L., and S. Bartoli. 1982. Simon & Schuster's Guide to Mammals. New York: Fireside/Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Entry 382. Khan, J. A. 1995. Conservation and management of Gir Lion Sanctuary and National Park, Gujarat, India.
Biological Conservation 73(3): 183-188.
•Khan, J. A., R. Chellam, W. A. Rodgers, and A. J. T. Johnsingh. 1996. Ungulate densities and biomass in the tropical
dry deciduous forests of Gir, Gujarat, India. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12(1): 149-162.
•Nowak, R. M. [editor]. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World (Fifth Edition). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University
Press.
•Prakash, I. 1991. Ecology of artiodactyls in the Thar Desert: their conservation in the Desert Biosphere Reserve. In
Mammals in the Palaearctic desert: status and trends in the Sahara-Gobian region. Editted by J. A. McNeely and V. M.
Neronov. Moscow: The Russian Committee for the UNESCO Programme on Man and the Biosphere. pp 243-250.
•Rice, C. 1989. Four-horned antelope. Gnusletter 8(1): 7.
•Singh, H. S. 2001. Antelopes and Gazelles: Distribution and population status in Gujarat, India. Indian Forester
127(10): 1098-1106.
•Solounias, N. 1990. A new hypothesis uniting Boselaphus and Tetracerus with the Miocene Boselaphini (Mammalia,
Bovidae) based on horn morphology. Annales Musei Goulandris 8: 425-440.

Sarang S. Desai
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