Nearly related to the antelopes of the Oryx group in many essential characteristics, yet at once distinguishable by its spiral horns and broad reindeer-like feet, the desert-haunting Addax has been placed in a separate genus, of which it is the sole representative.
This remarkable animal stands about 38 inches in height at the withers, and varies in general colour at different seasons of the year, from brownish grey to a reddish hue. The forehead is covered with a thick growth of bushy black hair, beneath which there is a patch of white extending across the nose to under the eyes. The hindquarters, tail, and legs are white. The horns are spiral, and are present in both sexes. In the male they attain a length of about 28 inches in a straight line, and almost 36 inches following the spiral. In the female they are thinner and less spirally curved. The addax is confined to the desert regions of Northern Africa from Dongola to Senegal, and the broad, rounded hoofs, so unlike those of any other antelope, would seem to show that it inhabits countries where the soil is deep, soft sand.
Photo by S. G. Payne, Aylesbury, by permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild.
WHITE ORYX.
Found in Northern Africa from Dongola to Senegal.
Photo by W. P. Dando] [Regent's Park.
BEISA ORYX.
The beisa is found in North-east Africa; by some it is believed to have suggested the original idea of the unicorn.