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Antelope x word5/7/2023 Usually, all species of the Antilopinae, Hippotraginae, Reduncinae, Cephalophinae, many Bovinae, the grey rhebok, and the impala are called antelope.īlue duiker ( Philantomba monticola) skeleton on display at the Museum of Osteology. The term is used to describe all members of the family Bovidae that do not fall under the category of sheep, cattle, or goats. The classification of tribes or subfamilies within Bovidae is still a matter of debate, with several alternative systems proposed.Īntelope are not a cladistic or taxonomically defined group. The 91 antelope species, most of which are native to Africa, occur in about 30 genera. In 1607, it was first used for living, cervine animals. The word talopus and calopus, from Latin, came to be used in heraldry. This, however, may be a folk etymology in Greek based on some earlier root. It perhaps derives from Greek ἀνθος, anthos (flower) and ώψ, ops (eye), perhaps meaning "beautiful eye" or alluding to the animals' long eyelashes. 336), according to whom it was a fabulous animal "haunting the banks of the Euphrates, very savage, hard to catch and having long, saw-like horns capable of cutting down trees". The English word "antelope" first appeared in 1417 and is derived from the Old French antelop, itself derived from Medieval Latin ant(h)alopus, which in turn comes from the Byzantine Greek word ἀνθόλοψ, anthólops, first attested in Eustathius of Antioch ( c. Illustration from The History of Four-footed Beasts (1607)
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