Addax
| Class: Mammalia:
Mammals |
Diet: Plants |
| Order:
Artiodactyla: Even-toed Ungulates |
| Size: body:1.3
m (4 1/4 ft), tail: 25 - 35 cm (9 3/4 - 13 3/4 in) |
| Family: Bovidae:
Bovids |
Conservation Status:
Critically endangered |
| Scientific Name:
Addax nasomaculatus |
Habitat: sandy and
stony desert |
| Range:
Africa: E. Mauritania, W. Mali; patchy distribution in Algeria, Chad, Niger
and Sudan |
 With
its heavy head and shoulders and slender hindquarters, the addax is a clumsy-looking
animal. Its coloration varies widely between individuals, but there is
always a mat of dark-brown hair on the forehead, and both sexes have thin,
spiral horns. Addax are typical desert-dwellers, with their large, widespreading
hoofs, adapted to walking on soft sand, and they never drink, obtaining
all the moisture they need from their food, which includes succulents.
Their nomadic habits are closely linked to the sporadic rains, for addax
appear to have a special ability to find the patches of desert vegetation
that suddenly sprout after a downpour. They are normally found in herds
of 20 to 200. The female produces 1 young after a gestation of 8 1/2 months.
  
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