Animal · Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan
Thomson's gazelle
Eudorcas thomsonii — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
Thomson's gazelle is a small, very fast antelope of the East African plains, easy to know by the broad black band along its side. Herds of them follow the rains across the Serengeti.
Picture credit: Thomas Fuhrmann (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Thomas Fuhrmann (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the Thomson's gazelle live?
Home: Short-grass plains and open savanna of East Africa.
In the wild it lives in these countries: Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown: 60-70 cm at the shoulder, about 90 cm long. It weighs about 23 kilograms. On the menu: plants.
The story behind it
A Thomson's gazelle can run at around 80 km/h and, more useful still, turn on the spot while going almost that fast. When a predator is spotted, gazelles often start to stott: they bounce stiff-legged into the air, all four feet leaving the ground at once. That looks like a waste of energy in a chase, but it tells the hunter that this gazelle is fit and hard to catch, so a cheetah may pick someone else. Tommies graze the short grass left behind by zebras and wildebeest, which is why they travel with the great herds. About 550 000 are left, and they are still the favourite prey of the cheetah.
Find it on the globe
Thomson's gazelle is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How fast is a Thomson's gazelle?
It reaches around 80 km/h, which puts it among the fastest land animals. Its real trick is turning sharply at speed, so a heavier hunter cannot follow the corner.
Why do gazelles jump straight up in the air?
That bouncing jump is called stotting. It seems to be a signal to the predator: I have seen you and I am strong enough to escape, so chase someone else.
Where do Thomson's gazelles live?
Almost all of them live on the short-grass plains of Kenya and Tanzania, above all in the Serengeti and the Masai Mara. A closely related form also lives further north, in South Sudan.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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