common name applied to a large group of hollow-horned ruminants of the family BOVIDAE (q.v.), which also includes cattle, goats, and sheep. The group comprises about 150 species, of which most are found in Africa and the remainder in Asia. No true antelope is native to the Americas. The closest relatives in the U.S. are the ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT, (q.v.), known as a goat antelope because it has structural characteristics of both the goat and the antelope, and the PRONGHORN, (q.v.), also called pronghorn antelope.

Antelope range in size from the tiny royal antelope, which stands about 25 cm (about 10 in) high at the shoulder, to the giant ELAND, (q.v.), sometimes about 2 m (about 6 ft) in height and weighing up to about 680 kg (about 1500 lb). The corkscrew horns of a large African antelope, the KUDU, (q.v.), grow to about 1.5 m (about 5 ft) in length. Unlike the deer, which they resemble in body and in habits, antelope have unbranched, hollow horns that are never shed. Antelope are generally swift, and some species are the fastest of the quadrupeds, attaining speeds of 97 km/hr (60 mph).. Antelope are often brilliantly colored; they live in open plains, marshes, deserts, or forests, according to the species. Some are solitary, but many species travel in herds.

The term antelope does not designate a sharply defined group; members of the group are included in all the five subfamilies of Bovidae: the Bovinae, the Cephalophinae, the Hippotraginae, the Antilopinae, and the Caprinae. Antelope of the subfamily Bovinae are the oxlike giant eland; the kudu; the broad-horned, elusive bongo; the East African dik-dik, the smallest in this subfamily; the shy four-horned antelope; the marshbuck, or sitatunga; the nyala; and the nilgai, or blue bull, which is revered in India for its color. The subfamily Cephalophinae contains the numerous small duikers (see DUIKER,). When frightened, they dive through the bushes and then stand on their hindlegs to look around.

The subfamily Hippotraginae contains the WATERBUCK, (q.v.), which takes to the water when pursued; the water-loving lechwe; the kob, which has lyre-shaped horns; the straight-horned GEMSBOK, (q.v.); the large, glossy sable antelope; the oryx and the ADDAX, (q.v.) of the southern Sahara; the BLESBOK, (q.v.), with green-tinged, yellow-tipped horns; the ungainly, long-faced HARTEBEEST, (q.v.); and the buffalo-headed GNU, (q.v.).

The subfamily Antilopinae contains the small antelopes: the surefooted klipspringer (Afrik., “rock jumper”), the spike-horned grysbok, the suni, and the tiny royal antelope, which, despite its small size, can leap about 3 m (about 9 ft). In addition, the subfamily contains the BLACK BUCK, of India, the graceful IMPALA, (qq.v.), and the numerous gazelles (see GAZELLE,), such as the springbok and the gerenuk, or Waller’s gazelle, which stands on its long hindlegs to eat the leaves of trees.

The subfamily Caprinae contains the Siberian saiga, an antelope with a very large nose and with horns that the Chinese grind and use as medicine. Also part of the subfamily Caprinae are the goat antelopes, such as the CHAMOIS, (q.v.) of the European mountains, the American Rocky Mountain goat, and the large, golden takin, which is found in the Himalayas.