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Addax

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iAddax

Image:Haeckel Antilopina Addax nasomaculatus.jpg

Conservation status

Image:Status iucn3.1 CR.svg
Critically endangered (CR)

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Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Hippotraginae
Genus:	Addax Rafinesque, 1815
Species:	A. nasomaculatus

Binomial name

Addax nasomaculatus
(Blainville, 1816)

The Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) is a critically endangered desert antelope that lives in several isolated regions in the Sahara. Although extremely rare in its native habitat, it is quite common in captivity and is regularly bred on ranches where they are hunted as trophies.

The Addax stands about 1 metre tall at the shoulder and weighs 60 to 120 kilograms. Their coat is white but their chest, neck and head are mainly brown with a white patch over the bridge of the nose and another around the mouth. They have a scraggly beard and prominent red nostrils. Horns, found on both males and females, have two twists and can reach 80 centimetres in females and 120 centimetres in males. The hooves are broad with flat soles and strong dewclaws to help them walk on soft sand.

Addax live in desert terrain where they eat grass, and leaves of what bushes there are. Addax don't drink, but get all the moisture they need from their food. Addax are nocturnal: they rest during the day in depressions they dig for themselves.

Addax herds contain both males and females and have from two to twenty animals, though they had more in previous times. They wander widely in search of food. Addax have a strong social structure, probably based on age, and herds are led by the oldest male.

One of the biggest captive breeding herds for Addax exists at the Hanover Zoo, Germany. They are raised there and reintroduced into the wild.

[edit] References

Newby & Wacher (2005). Addax nasomaculatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 08 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is critically endangered and the criteria used