In Hippotragus the stout and thickly ringed horns rise vertically from a ridge above the eyes at an obtuse angle to the plane of the lower part of the face, and then sweep backwards in a bold curve; while there are tufts of long white hairs near the eyes.
The various species of oryx differ from Hippotragus by the absence of the white eye-tufts, and by the horns sloping backwards in the plane of the face.
Palaeoryx from the corresponding horizon in Greece and Samos is to some extent intermediate between Hippotragus and Oryx.
The structure of their molar teeth affiliates them to the antelopes of the Oryx and Hippotragus groups; but the early bovines lack horns in the female, whereas both sexes of these antelopes are horned.