Relationships among physical traits, age and social status in Thomson's and Grant's gazelles

Abstract

Territorial male Thomson's and Grant's gazelles on a commercial game ranch near Nairobi, Kenya, were older, heavier and possessed longer horns than bachelor conspecifics. Among territorial Thomson's gazelles, males accompanied by females were older than solitary individuals but differed little in frame and horn dimensions. Small sample sizes precluded similar analyses for Grant's gazelles. These results suggest the importance of size, age and perhaps experience in determining social status.