Grant's gazelle vs Thomson's gazelle
On the plains of Kenya and Tanzania these two gazelles often graze together, and from a distance they look the same. The flank and the rump tell you which is which.
Quick tip: Look at the side. A bold black stripe means Thomson's, a pale flank means Grant's.
Five field marks
| Field mark | Grant's gazelle | Thomson's gazelle |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Bigger and taller, with a longer neck. | Small and compact. |
| Flank | Pale flank, with at most a faint stripe. | A bold black stripe along the side. |
| Rump | The white rump patch reaches up above the tail. | The white patch stops below the tail. |
| Tail | Pale, with a dark tuft at the tip. | Black, and flicks almost nonstop. |
| Horns | Long and spreading, often lyre-shaped. | Shorter and closer together. |
Five real camera-trap photos. Can you tell them apart?
Why it matters
Thomson's gazelle is listed as Near Threatened and Grant's gazelle as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Both depend on open grassland, which is shrinking as farms and fences spread across East Africa.
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Photos: Snapshot Safari via LILA BC, CDLA-Permissive-1.0. We cropped camera banners, resized the images and removed their metadata. Field marks written by Save the Animals. Red List status from the IUCN.