Addax nasomaculatus
Description
A predominantly white, stocky-bodied, medium-sized antelope inhabiting the sand seas and gravel plains of the Sahara. Head light grey or beige, with contrasting white patches in front of the eyes, linked across the bridge of the muzzle. Small white patches behind the eyes. Nose beige, lips and chin white. Crown and forehead sporting a prominent, wig-like tuft of dark brown hair. Ears white with a long basal tuft of pale hairs. With the exception of the throat and chest, which are beige, overall body colour is bright matte white. During the hot season (Apr-Oct), pelage is short, but in the colder months (Nov-Mar) it lengthens on the neck, chest, shoulders, back and flanks, becoming greyer, a characteristic especially obvious in Addax held in zoos with cold winter climates.
Adults of both sexes develop a beige fringe of variable length on the lower neck. In Niger, old adult males can develop a dark brown front coat Legs white with beige patches on the knees. Hooves broad and splayed. Tail short and white, sporting a sparse tuft of dark terminal hairs. Other than slight differences in size, weight and horn development in adults, sexes essentially similar.
Both sexes bear corkscrew shaped horns, which grow upwards and outwards, reaching over one metre in length. The horns of the adult male are stockier than those of the female, often having two to two-and-a-half turns to the female’s one-and-a-half to two. Horns heavily annulated over the first two-thirds of their length in both sexes.
Over time, and with violent sparring, the horns of the male may become lost, damaged or blunted. The Addax probably takes its name from the vernacular Arabic ‘agas or ‘adas. The specific name nasomaculatus –meaning ‘spotted nosed’ – refers to the contrasting white patches on the otherwise darker head.
TL : 125 - 170 cm
T : 30 - 32 cm
H : 105 - 115 cm
weight : 70 - 150 kg
Residual distribution
The current range of the Addax is reduced nowadays to a few very small pockets, highly fragmented, distributed over two or three regions across Southern and Central Sahara:
- In the massif and erg of the Termit-Tin Toumma survives what is probably the only viable population of Addax today, around 200 individuals (Wacher et al., 2004).
- Further East, towards the border with Chad, in the regions of Agadem (Niger), North Manga and Eguey-Bodélé (Chad), solitary animals or very small groups are sometime observed. Nine individuals and tracks of groups of 1 to 6 individuals were observed in November 2005 (CMS, SCF and APF Survey, Nov. 2005).
- West of termit, towards the Aïr Mountains (Niger) and northwards to the border with Algeria, there have been sporadic but no really good reports of Addax over the past few years (Newby, SCF communication, Sept. 2005).
- To the West, the Majabat-alKoubra desert, between Mauritania and Mali, has, far a long time, been considered by several authors to be a key area for Addax survival (Lamarche, 1987; Dragesco Joffé, 1993). This area has never been formally censused Today, if it is still possible that a population of addax survives in the Majabat-al-Koubra, there is no data available or numbers nor trends. Moreover, the region is nowadays highly insecure and the implementation of Conservation measures are very unlikely.
IUCN RED LIST 2007: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR)
A taxon is Critically Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets all the criteria for Critically Endangered, and it is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
