Oryx
The Oryx (also called the sabre antelope) is a fast-running hoofed mammal that lives in dry regions of Africa and Asia (including the Arabian peninsula). They live in steppes (sparse grasslands), semi-deserts, and deserts.
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| Oryx gazella | |
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| Genus: | Oryx
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Oryx beisa Rüppell, 1835 | |
Description
These antelopes congregate in herds of 8 to 60 oryx. Newborn calves can run with the herd within minutes of their birth. Oryxes have a life span of about 20 years. Some people think that the unicorn of legend was based upon the oryx. Many types of oryxes (including the Arabian oryx and the scimitar-horned oryx) are endangered species, mostly because of overhunting and disease.
Diet and Water
The Oryx is an herbivore (a plant-eater). It eats grasses, shrubs and roots, spending most of its time grazing. Oryx are ruminants; they swallow their food without chewing it. After a while, they regurgitate a partly-digested "cud" which they chew and then swallow for the last time. This desert animal can go for weeks without water; it gets much of its water from the plants it eats.
Oryx Media
East African oryx in the Awash National Park, Ethiopia
Oryx dammah is the only oryx with clearly curved horns, an ochre neck, and no dark markings on the legs.
Oryx beisa resembles the closely related O. gazella, but the latter has an entirely black tail and more black to the legs and lower flanks.
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