Gnu

GNU s. Species of large antelopes that live in the southern and central plains of Africa, and which are sometimes classified as Bovidae or oxen, of the genus catoblepas (H. Smith) or connochetes (Gray); it is the wilde beest of Cape Town dutch settlers. The gnu is one of the strangest animals; it has the head and horns of a buffalo, the body and mane of a horse and the limbs of an antelope. The main color of the common species (catoblepas gnu, H. Smith) is a tawny brown, darker on the back and legs. The gnu, although heavy in appearance, is very fast and active; it gallops as a horse across the plains and forms herds like wild oxen, it is very quarrelsome and difficult to tame. The common species is approximately 1.20 m (3.9 ft) high at the shoulder and 2.20 m (7.2 ft) long from the tip of the tail to the end of the muffle. There is a second and bigger species, the kokoon or blauwe wilde beest (catoblepas taurina and gorgon, H. Smith), which is about 1.80 m (5.9 ft) high at the shoulder and 2.50 m (8.2 ft) from the muffle to the tip of the tail, which is about 0.56 long; horns are approximately 0.66 m long. Its meat is appreciated.
 
Extract from the Trousset encyclopedia, 1886 – 1891.