The term antelope is used to refer to a number of species of ruminant artiodactyls—i.e., multiple-stomached, cud-chewing, even-toed hoofed mammals—that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe.
The term "antelope" is a wastebasket taxon and is defined as comprising any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals belonging to the family Bovidae of the order Artiodactyla.
A better definition, also known as the "true antelopes," includes only the genera Gazella, Nanger, Eudorcas, and Antilope. One North American mammal, the pronghorn or “pronghorn antelope”, is colloquially referred to as the "American antelope", despite the fact that it belongs to a completely different family (Antilocapridae) than the true Old-World antelopes; pronghorn are the sole extant member of an extinct prehistoric lineage that once included many unique species, some with elaborately spiraling horns, and some with shorter ossicones—hence their true connection to the giraffe and okapi.
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