Thomson's gazelles, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

One of the most common gazelles in East Africa, the graceful Thomson's Gazelle is distinguished from the similarly colored Grant's Gazelle by the dark stripe that runs from the shoulder to the flank and the white patch on the rump, as well as its smaller size. Male tommies are larger than females and have strongly ridged horns that curve backwards, with the tips curving forward. Female tommies have short, smooth, pencil-slim horns, or none at all. The face is accented by a black stripe running down from the eye, a dark marking on the nose and a light patch on the forehead. Although more reliant on water than Grant's gazelle, the Thomson's Gazelle has adapted to the open plains and grasslands of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Broadcasting Company and traveled to Africa from June 1966 to early August 1966.