Scimitar oryx

The scimitar oryx is a white antelope with a chestnut neck and long, backward-curving horns shaped like a scimitar sword. It once lived across North Africa and parts of West and Central Africa. It is adapted to harsh desert and can survive for months without drinking water, getting most of its moisture from plants.

The species was declared extinct in the wild in 2000, mostly because of hunting for its horns and a drier climate. In 2016, a reintroduction programme began, and a small herd now lives wild in Chad. In 2023 the IUCN moved it up to endangered, a real conservation success.

Built for the desert

The scimitar oryx grazes grass, hay, leaves and fruit, and is mostly active in the evening and sometimes at night. Its horns can grow longer than a metre, and adults often weigh over 200 kilograms. It lives in herds. Females have a single calf after about 300 days, and the animal lives around 18 years. It was the emblem of the ancient Egyptian Oryx nome, and today it is the symbol of the Sahara Conservation Fund.

Back from the brink

After it vanished from the wild, scimitar oryxes survived in captivity, in special reserves in Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal, and on private ranches in Texas. Animals bred there were released in Chad, where the first small herd has been rebuilt. The decline began as the climate changed in the Neolithic period, and later hunting finished the job.

On the globe

The toy model shows a scimitar oryx in the Sahel, south of the Sahara, where it was reintroduced in Chad.