ORDER
SCIMITAR-HORNED ORYX
EVEN TOED
UNGULATES
ORDER
Artiodactyla
FAMILY
Bovidae
GENUS & SPECIES
Oryx dammah
HABITAT
DESERT
GRASSLAND
DIET
HERBIVORE
STATUS
1
EXTINCT
IN WILD
FACTS & FIGURES
Height
1.25m
Weight
200kg
Length of horns
up to 1.7m
Pregnancy
9 months
Young born
usually 1
DESCRIPTION
The Scimitar-horned Oryx is a member of
the genus oryx of which other species
include the very rare Arabian Oryx, and
the more common Gazelle Oryx and the
Gemsbok.
It is of a similar look and size to the Gazelle
Oryx except for its distinctive horns which
curve backwards to a length of 1.7m.
Both the male and the female have the
trademark ‘scimitars’. The adult male
reaches over 1.25 metres tall at the
shoulders and can weigh over 200kg. The
coat is off-white with brown shading on
the muzzle, neck, flanks, and upper part of
the legs. The light colour of its body is
ideally suited to life in the desert in that it
reflects the intense heat of the sun.
Horny covering
Bone
POINTS OF INTEREST
Oryx are known to travel over vast
territories, of the order of 3000 sq. km.
They travel in groups and will know every
inch of the way, avoiding unfavourable
parts and seeking out good feeding
grounds and watering holes. Oryx travel at
night to minimise heat stress and to
conserve water. They avoid exertion during
the heat of the day and will seek out
whatever shade they can from the rocks
and scanty bushes.
Oryx have a highly accurate navigation
sense to guide them across the desert.
Their spectacular horns which can grow to
over 1.7 metres are used in battles between
rival males during the mating season.
During these battles it is not unknown
for an opponent to be thrown to the
ground or indeed for a horn to be broken
off. In rare instances the mating fights can
result in death.
CONSERVATION
The Scimitar-horned Oryx, along with
another desert antelope, the Addax,
once thrived and were abundant in the
Sahel desert grasslands that surround the
Sahara Desert.
In the early part of the 20th century their
numbers started to fall dramatically due to
several factors; hunting, drought and
developing
agriculture.
They
had
traditionally been hunted for their meat
and hide by the desert nomads, most
notably the Haddad tribe of northern Chad.
The development of firearms and motor
vehicles speeded up the over-hunting and
poaching of the oryx to the point of
extinction. By the 1930’s the species was
no longer found in the northern Sahel and
as the century progressed only a few dozen
animals survived in Chad, Niger and Mali.
Today it may be extinct in the wild.
In 1966, when the species was still viable,
41 oryx were caught in western Chad to
form the nucleus of a captive breeding
programme. The project has been
successful and the oryx have bred well, to
the point that there are now several
thousand animals in zoological parks
around the world.
Re-introduction of the species to the wild
was started in 1985 when a herd of 10 oryx
were slowly introduced to the Bou-Hedma
National Park in Tunisia.
Longleat is part of the national breeding
programme and holds a herd of ScimitarHorned Oryx females. These animals will
be kept as a resource for other collections
wishing to breed in the future. A studbook
is held to prevent inter-breeding.
© Longleat
Scimitar-horned Oryx are gregarious, living in groups with a wide
range of sizes, generally up to 70.
WORLD
DISTRIBUTION
SCIMITAR-HORNED ORYX – Africa,
may still survive in the desert grasslands of
Niger. Re-introduced to Bou-Hedma
National Park, Tunisia and introduced in
Israel. World population is thought to be
less than 500, now classed as extinct in the
wild.
NATURAL DIET
The Scimitar-horned Oryx is a herbivore,
surviving on a very meagre diet of dry
grasses and leaves found in the rocky
desert terrain of the Sahel that borders the
Sahara Desert.
They are highly adapted to life with little
water and have very efficient kidneys that
minimise water loss in their urine and
from their blood.
Their gut allows maximum water extraction
enabling the oryx to excrete almost dry
faeces. They are able to satisfy most of their
water needs from the vegetation they eat,
although they will seek out permanent water
holes on their trek across their territory.
Feeding at night, they can exist for weeks or
months without water, drawing on reserves
of body fat if needed.
LONGLEAT DIET
DID YOU KNOW?
The Oryx are among the most
heat-tolerant of all desert
mammals, coping with overheating which at 42-45°C would
prove lethal to most other animals.
Summer – Grazing in the rich pasture of
their reserve.
Winter – Hay ad lib and concentrates.
At night they may glean water by
licking condensed dew off each
other’s coats.
A new mother can drink up to
20% of her body weight after the
birth of her calf.
© Longleat
Oryx are known to travel
over vast territories of over
3,000 sq.km.
It is thought that a one horned
oryx may be the origin of the
unicorn myth. The oryx can often
lose a horn in a fight.
The Scimitar-horned Oryx takes its name
from the similarity of its long curved horns
to the shape of the scimitar sword