Size: Height up to 125 cm. Length up to 175 cm. Weight up to 200 kg.

Habitat and Distribution: The Scimitar-horned Oryx used to be found throughout the whole of North Africa. Today it is not known whether this species is extinct in the wild, or whether small populations survive in central Niger and Chad. There are re-introduced populations in Israel and Tunisia. Its original habitats were sub-desert lands, the transition zones between true desert (Sahara) and the Sahel, rolling dunes, grassy steppes and wooded valleys between dunes.

Age: Captive animals can live for up to 20 years.

Groups and Breeding: This oryx would live in large groups of differing sizes of up to 40 individuals during most of the year and up to 1000 during the wet season migration. These are ruled by a dominant male who guides the herd to grazing sites and keeps the individuals in tight formation.

Young are sexually mature at two years old. Courting is done through the means of a mating circle, where the male and female stand next to one another facing opposite directions. They then circle around one another until the cow allows the male to mount from behind. Gestation lasts for about 8 months with (single) births occurring mainly in March and October in the wild. Young are fully independent from 14 weeks of age.

Diet: This species eats a variety of foods including legumes, leaves, the fruit of trees and shrubs but mainly grasses.

• This animal is so well adapted to arid lands that it can go for 9 to 10 months without drinking water (by using the moisture in the vegetation it eats).
• The Scimitar-horned Oryx only sweats when its body temperature exceeds 46 deg C (116 deg F). It can also lower its body temperature at night to 97F (36C) so that it takes longer to reach this temperature during the day.
• The oryx can tolerate temperatures which would be lethal to other animals because they have a special system of blood vessels that takes blood from the heart to the brain via the nose where it is cooled by up to 5F.
• In 1986, a breeding herd of 10 juvenile Scimitar-horned Oryx (5 males and 5 females), were released into the Bou Hedma National Park in Tunisia. These oryx reproduced successfully and by 1997, this founder herd of ten oryx had increased to a herd of 84 animals.
• The Scimitar-horned Oryx population originally began to decline as a result of major climatic changes that caused the Sahara region to become dry and food scarce, this drove the oryx to extinction. However, a captive breeding programme started in the 1960s means there are now over 3,000 individuals in captivity.
• Both sexes have large horns which can grow up to 125 cm in length.