Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-03-21
MOUNTAIN NYALA,
Findings of Specimens Regarded
as Important by biologists.
IS OF THE ANTELOPE FAMILY
Animal First Was Brought to the At
tention of Science In 1910, When It
Abyssinia.

tention of Science In 1910, When 1t
Was Discovered on the Borders of
Abyssinia.
Next to the discovery of that strange
beast, the okapi, the finding and pic
turing of specimens Of the mountain
nyala, large and magnificent ante
LOPEZ have been the most important ZOO
logical incident of the last forty years.
1t seems extraordinary, says II. A.
Dryden in the London Sphere, that on
the borders Of country like Abys-
Sinia, which carries large native pop
ulatiOn and has been fairly well
known to Europeans since the days of
the traveller Bruce in the eighteenth
century, this splendid anC important
African mammal should have escaped
notice, but so it is. Africa has since
the faroff days Of Pliny always been
able to produce something new and
no doubt cherishes within her bosom
even yet more surprises for the white
man.
The mountain nyala (Tragelaphus
buXtonD was first discovered in 1910
by the English sportsmen Ivor Buxton
and G. Alright, who We're shooting in
that year in an unfrequented and little
known piece Of country, the Sahatu or
Shabatu mountains, in northwest Gala
land to the northeast of a lake marked
on the maps as quay or Zwei. Gala
land, inhabited by race of hardy and
sporting natives, was not many years
since looked upon as independent or
quasi independent and likely to be-.
come an integral part of British Soma
liland. The colonial authorities hay
ing, however, seen fit to retreat from
Somaliland and abandon all the terri
tory save broad coastal strip, the
Abyssinians have steadily pushed their
boundaries southwestward and, de
spite the appeals OF the Calais. who
would much have preferred British
rule, have now incorporated Gallaland
within the territory of the negus.
Wandering through these little known
mountains of Sahatu, MesSrS. Buxton
and Alright came across specimens Of
an antelope which seemed new and un-
accustomed to them. They shot sew
eral Of them, usually at an altitude Of
something like 5000 feet, and brought
away several good heads and n skin or
two. Upon their arrival in England it
was at once seen that the antelopeS
thus secured we've new to science. At
first they were believed to be form OF
kudu, but subsequent investigation re-
suited in a new species being ranked
with the nyala, a large and magnificent
| bush buck found in southeast Africa. 1t
was thereupon named by II. Lydellker
| Of the British museum the mountain
nyala, with the scientific title, Tragela-
plus buxtoni.
"The mountain nyala," explains Mr..
Dryden, ''is considerably larger in size
than the true nyala, which measures
! some three feet six inches at the with
ers and approaches the height of the
kudu, which stands ut the shoulder
close on five feet. Neither does its
coat, although longish in texture, at
tain the flowing proportions of that of
an old male nyala. In the latter ami
NAL the color of the ram IS dark gray
ish brown and sparsely marked with
| faint white stripes. The true nyala
ram carries also q notable fringe of
| long hair on the throat, breast and
under parts, as we'll as crest Of dark
hair along the neck and of white hair
along the spine from the shoulders to
the tail. The lower parts of the legs
are bright tan, and some tan is also
to be seen upon the face. There is a
strong similarity between the horns of
the mountain and the true nyala but
those Of the former are longer, heav.
Ter and wider in the sweep.
THE longest recorded horns of the
true nyala measure 311A inches over
the curve and 2G inches in q straight
line, while the biggest pair Of the
mountain nyala yet known attain as
much as 80 inches over the curve and
3O1a inches straight measurement. The
widest known pair Of the true nyala
are 171@ inches from tip to tip, while
the first two known pairs of the noun
tain nyala measure respectively 90
inches and 81 inches.''