Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Natural History Lecture No. 9 (1799), Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
Additional Source Text:
"This is the Capra Cervicapra of Linnaeus, called the Common antilope. with upright horns twisted spirally, surrounded almost to the top with prominent rings; about 16 Inches long, 12 Inches between point and point. I should rather have called this the Lyre horned Antilope, since the Ancients made use of them to form that Instrument of musick and the bottom part they sometimes made with the shell of the Tortoise.
"Here is the female. I had this pair of Antilopes with a male young one alive some time, although they were very familiar yet I thought them too dangerous, to have the range of the Yard, since their play with such sharpe horns might prove fatal to my Children."
In his "Walk through the Phil[adelphi]a Museum" (1805-1806), p. 38, Peale added: "The female is without horns."
Notes:
The male blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) has horns that are not truly lyre-shaped but are ringed at the base and twist spirally up to approximately 4 turns.
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Peale's Common Name:
Common antilope
Peale's Scientific Name:
Antilope Cervicapra
Current Common Name:
Blackbuck
Current Scientific Name
Antilope cervicapra
