Scimitar Oryx
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| iScimitar Oryx | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Oryx dammah Cretzschmar, 1827 |
The Scimitar Oryx (Oryx dammah) is found in steppe and desert in central Niger and Chad, the extent of their habitation is unknown.
The Scimitar Oryx is just over a metre at the shoulder and weighs around two hundred kilograms. Their coats are white with a red-brown chest and black markings on the forehead and down the length of the nose. The horns are long, thin and parallel and curve backwards (like a scimitar) and can reach a metre to a metre and a quarter on both sexes.
The Scimitar Oryx lives in steppe and desert where they eat leaves, grass and fruit. They form herds of mixed sex containing up to seventy animals. Formerly they would gather in groups of several thousand for migration, but there are no longer enough oryx for this. Scimitar Oryx can survive without water for many weeks, because their kidneys prevent loss of water from urination and they can raise their body temperature to avoid perspiration.
Scimitar Oryx were hunted for their horns, almost to extinction. Where once they occupied the whole Sahara, they are now considered to be extinct in the wild, although there have been unconfirmed sightings in Chad and Niger.
A global captive breeding programme was initiated in the 1960s. In 1996, there were at least 1,250 captive animals held in zoos and parks around the world with a further 2,145 on ranches in Texas.
[edit] References
- Mallon & Kingswood (2000). Oryx dammah. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as extinct in the wild
