noun
definition
A genus of large South African antelope (Taurotragus), valued both for its hide and flesh.
Examples of elands in a Sentence
It is one of the transverse chains connecting the eastern coast range with the higher terraces and goes under a variety of names, such as Elands Berg and Ingome Mountains.
Hyenas, jackals, wild pig, polecats and wild dogs (Canis pictus) of different species are still found in or about bush jungles and forest clumps; elands (Antilope oreas) are preserved on some estates, and there are at least ten distinct species of antelope (hartebeest, bushbok, duiker, rietbok, rhebok, rovibok, blauwbok, &c.).
It was proposed to include in Natal such portions of the Harrismith and Vrede districts as were comprised by a line following the Elands river north from its source on the Basutoland border to its junction with the Wilge river, and thence drawn straight to the point where the boundaries of Natal, the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony meet on the Drakensberg.
Harrismith was founded in 1849, the site first chosen being on the Elands river, where the small town of Aberfeldig now is; but the advantages of the present site soon became apparent and the settlement was removed.
The first group, or Tragelaphinae, is represented by the African elands (Taurotragus), bongo (Boocercus), kudus (Strepsiceros) and bushbucks or harnessed antelopes (Tragelaphus), and the Indian nilgai (Boselaphus).
Except in the bongo and elands, horns are present only in the males, and these are angulated and generally spirally twisted, and without rings.
The large and brightly coloured bongo (Boocercus euryceros) of the equatorial forest-districts serves in some respects to connect the bushbucks with the elands, having horns in both sexes, and a tufted tail, but a brilliant orange coat with vertical white stripes.
Elands and kudus appear to have been represented in India during the Pliocene; the European Palaeoreas of the same age seems to be intermediate between the two, while Protragelaphus is evidently another European representative of the group. Helicophora is another spiral-horned European Pliocene antelope, but of somewhat doubtful affinity; the same being the case with the large Criotherium of the Samos Pliocene, in which the short horns are curiously twisted.
Today, the Houston Zoo is the only place in Texas where you can see living elands, the largest of all antelopes, and it continues to be a hot spot for tourists and residents alike.