Linda Dover, aged 10, of Waxahachie, Texas, for her question:

What is a gnu?

Let's be sure to pronounce his name correctly. The first letter is silent ‑ which makes him a noo. The South African natives, who first named him, call him a name which is pronounced something like nqu. The Dutch settlers of South Africa solved the problem of his name by calling him a wildebeest. True, he may roam wild over his native welt lands, He will fight to defend his herd. Hut he is hardly ,fierce enough to be called a beast.

You would never guess it to look at him. Hut the gnu belongs to the gentle, fleet‑footed antelope family. He looks rather like a horse who happens to be wearing a huge, sad‑faced bison head. Isis hoofs are cloven, like an antelope. He wears a long flowing horsey tail and a horsey mane. on his neck. There the resemblance to the horse suddenly ends. He wears a square shaped beard around his shaggy head. He also wears long shaggy hair on his chest.

The small dark gnu of the v elt lands was once hunted without mercy for his coat. He is now very rare, His larger brindled cousin is still plentiful. He still roans the velts in large herds .