Ape-Child of Teheran

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Ramu

The Saharan Gazelle Boy

Jean-Claude Armen and the Saharan Gazelle Boy

Armen writes extensively about the gazelle boy of Rio de Oro (the Spanish Sahara), the boy who he tracked and observed for a considerable period in 1960-1. Eventually the boy became accustomed to Armen, and was no longer afraid — the two met many times, and Armen was able to keep him and his gazelle companions under close observation for an extended period.

Army Captain attempts a capture

Armen returned to the area in 1963 in the company of a captain of the Cercle Militaire Française d'El Aioudj-Idjil and succeeded in finding him again. However, the captain wasn't content with watching, and wanted to catch the boy — they followed him in a jeep, at speeds of up to 52-54 kph — and Armen was forced to physically wrest the controls from him to prevent the capture.

Two more capture attempts

Two more attempts were made to capture the Saharan Gazelle Boy, by American officers from the NATO base of Villa Cisneros. In the first, in 1966, a net was dragged from a helicopter. The second unsuccessful attempt was made in June and July of 1970.

Read the full story of the Saharan Gazelle Boy

Gazelle Boy by Jean-Claude Armen covers Armen's observations of the Saharan Gazelle Boy and the herd of gazelles in some considerable detail, with complicated diagrams to explain the gazelles' systems of social interaction and communication.