From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scimitar-(Horned) Oryx
At the Taronga Zoo At the San Diego Zoo
Conservation status
Extinct in the wild (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Subfamily: Hippotraginae Genus: Oryx Species: O. dammah
Binomial name
Oryx dammah Cretzschmar, 1827

The Scimitar Oryx, or Scimitar-Horned Oryx, (Oryx dammah) is a species of oryx which formerly inhabited the whole of North Africa. Today conflicting reports exist as to whether it is extinct in the wild, or whether small populations survive in central Niger and Chad[1].

The Scimitar Oryx is just over a metre at the shoulder and weighs around two hundred kilograms. Its coat is 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, male and female.

Scimitar-Horned Oryx at the Wildlife Ranch in San Antonio, TX.

Scimitar Oryx natively inhabit 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. Scimitar Oryx can survive without water for many weeks, because their kidneys prevent loss of water from urination and they can modify 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. A herd exists in a fenced nature preserve in Tunisia, and is being expanded with plans for reintroduction to the wild in that country[2].

• 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.

• ARKive - images and movies of the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah)
• IUCN Red List, Oryx dammah

This article about an even-toed ungulate is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.