The goitered gazelle Gazella subgutturosa
The goitered gazelle is a medium-sized slender ungulate; its body length is up to 70 cm and weight, about 30 kilogram. Adult males have lyre-shaped dark horns; females are hornless. These elegant antelopes are found in the deserts, foothills and mountain valleys in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, southern Mongolia, and northern Tibet. Females usually give birth to two or, less commonly, one or three calves, which on the second or third day of their life are able to cover large distances, following their mother. After birth newborns hide if they sense a threat and never try to run away. The calves are nursed for a very short time and start grazing on plants when they are very young. They grow fast, reaching ¾ of the size of an adult animal in three months. By late summer goitered gazelles start gathering in large groups of up to a few hundred individuals. The groups are especially large at watering places. When fresh water is not available, goitered gazelles drink brackish water from Aral and Caspian Seas and in spring time, when lush fruits are abundant, they can survive without water.
