Scimitar-horned Oryx

Like the regretted Passenger Pigeon, the Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah) has gone from abundance to extinction in the wild within the space of a few short decades. Once a common antelope of the Sahelian grasslands of Africa, the last few remaining specimens disappeared from Chad and Niger during the 1990s.

Hunted relentlessly from vehicles with modern weapons, the oryx has been squeezed out of existence by poaching and a lethal combination of drought, desertification and encroachment of its sub-desert habitat by rain-fed agriculture and the expansion of pastoralism thanks to a multitude of new wells. It is incredible that an animal of this size can disappear under the noses of the conservation movement. Even more alarming is that a whole suite of animals sharing the same Sahelo-Saharan ecosystem – the addax, dama and slender-horned gazelles, the Saharan ostrich and cheetah -- are also poised on the brink of extinction.

Although the oryx was hunted out in North Africa many years ago, they could still be found in good numbers in the sub-Saharan nations of Chad and Niger as late as the 1970s. Herds of 50 were not unusual and when concentrated on areas of good grazing, assemblies of several hundred could be seen. Like most of the other inhabitants of the desert, the oryx is able to satisfy its water requirements through the food it eats. When rain does fall, however, the oryx will drink and often migrates far in search of new rainfall and green pasture. Young are born every 8-9 months and in good years a female may give birth twice. During periods of severe drought, however, adults succumb and young calves are abandoned. It’s very much a ‘boom or bust’ ecosystem!

Luckily, and unlike the Passenger Pigeon, there are a number of well managed herds of scimitar-horned oryx in captivity in zoos and private collections. These form the basis of a number of reintroduction projects currently underway in Africa, including Senegal, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. SCF and its partners are involved in the Tunisia programme and to find out more about this, click here.