The Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) is an antelope species endemic to the Sahara desert, one of the hottest environments on earth. The species home range historically spanned several countries across the Sahel including Sudan, Egypt, Chad, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Western Sahara, Morrocco, and Mauritania. However, their population has dramatically decreased due to poaching, habitat loss, oil drilling, and civil wars. Today, the species are confined in a few natural places and are extinct in Egypt and Sudan. According to the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF), a non-governmental organization, which has been monitoring the species since 2004, there are might be 100 or less surviving in the wild mainly in the Termit and Tin-Toumma National Nature Reserve in Niger and Eguey Bodele region in Chad. Although the species is declining in the wild, over 2,000 Addax antelopes survive in captivity in private natural reserves and breeding centers around the world. Conservationists are most concerned with re-establishing a viable population of Addax back to the wild where it became locally extinct.
The Addax is categorized as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of endangered species. Conserving the antelope is a priority of the IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group which offers technical and financial support to SCF and its partners to save not only the Addax but also other endangered species such as the Scimitar-horned oryx (extinct in the wild), the Dama gazelle, Saharan Cheetah, and the North African ostrich. The drafted action plan entails re-establishing the number of Addax to 500 in the wild in the long-term.
The project has achieved success in Chad. About 90 Addax antelopes have been reintroduced to their former habitats including the Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Wildlife Reserve and the Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve, a UNESCO world heritage site.
Niger also stepped up in an effort to protect the species remaining in the Termit and Tin-Toumma National Nature Reserve. The 86,215sq.km protected area was created in 2012 given that it was thought to harbor almost the highest number of Addax surving in the wild. Protecting the reserve has been challenging due to the Libyan political crisis of 2011 and oil drilling in the reserve. Field surveys that were conducted by SCF in 2016 identified only 3 animals and foot prints of 25 adults. Indicators of wildlife distrubance were recorded from which conservationists recommended that over 50,000 sq.km of the protected area be exclusively put aside away from the oil drilling areas. The Niger government reclassified the reserve’s boundaries accordingly in 2019.
Physical appearance
Addax is among the few wild animals that can change its color according to seasons. During summer, the animal has a white or pale brown coat which turns into gray and dark brown in winter. Both male and female grow short manes and spiral horns. The horns can reach up to 70-85 and 55-80 centimeters long respectively. Males are relatively larger weighing between 60-125 kg and measuring 33-38 inches at shoulder height and 60-90 kg for females. Males and females have similar facial features with brown, black patches that curve into letter X below the eyes.
Habitat and ecology
Addax is endemic to the Sahara desert and predominaly lives in a variety of environments especially where there’s perennial vegetation for grazing. From semi-deserts, and stony to sandy deserts that host tussock grasses and the succulent thorny scrub called cornulaca. The plant is rich in moisture which allows their bodies to store water for several days. The animals are nocturnal and actively graze at night in herds of 5-20 individuals led by an alpha male. During the day they tend to rest in depressions in the sand, underneath shade trees and shrubs, in which to take shelter from the scotching sun. Addax possess strong sense of smel that allows them to locate each other over great distances and reunite in a given environment. They can sense rainfall and water miles away move to areas with an abundance of plants to graze on. Addax reproduces every after 257-264 days with a female giving birth to one calf per year mostly in winter and spring seasons.