Oryx antelopes
| Oryx antelopes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gauntlet ( oryx gazella ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Oryx | ||||||||||||
| Blainville , 1816 |
The oryx antelopes ( Oryx ) are a genus from the subfamily of the ram (Hippotraginae). The species of this genus were originally distributed over all dry and semi-arid regions of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula .
Both sexes of these large antelopes have long horns and a typical black face mask. The bulls have a standing height of up to 180 cm and a maximum weight of 200 kg. For female oryx, the stand height is 160 cm and the weight is a maximum of 160 kg. The horns of the males are often a little shorter but stronger than those of the females. Even directly from the front, it is difficult for the inexperienced observer to decide which sex the animal is, but male oryx live as solitary animals, while females live in groups of up to 40 animals. It has been observed that the animals can use their horns to successfully defend themselves against large big cats such as lions.
Adaptation to the desert climate
.jpg)
Oryx antelopes are adapted to life without water for long periods of time. Similar to camels , the body temperature of the oryx can rise well above the level of 38 ° C typical for mammals without the animal being harmed. The biologist Lavers reports that in an experiment an oryx antelope had kept its body temperature just above 45 ° C stable for eight hours in a climatic chamber at 45 ° C without drinking water . They survive these extreme temperatures due to a network of veins on the carotid artery that works like a heat exchanger. The blood that has cooled down in the nose causes the artery to cool further before the blood flows to the brain. Even so, the oryx can die of heat stroke: If they have to move too fast in extreme heat for too long, the cooling effect is no longer sufficient.
Because their food absorbs water through night dew, they prefer to eat at night until the early hours of the morning.
Danger
The two smaller species are on the list of endangered animals, with the saber antelope being critically endangered, but the Arabian oryx being downgraded from critically endangered to endangered in 2011 . The Arabian oryx was eradicated in the wild in 1972 but was released again. Thanks to breeding programs and reintroductions, there were around 1,000 wild specimens on the Arabian Peninsula in 2011. The saber antelope, which is native to North Africa, was recently only found in the Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim nature reserve , but has been considered extinct there since 2000. Resettlement programs exist in Tunisia , Morocco , Senegal and most recently in Niger.
species
There are six types:
- Beisa oryx ( Oryx beisa ( Rüppell , 1835))
- Tuft-eared oryx ( Oryx callotis Thomas , 1892)
- Saber antelope ( Oryx dammah ( Cretzschmar , 1826))
- Galla oryx ( Oryx gallarum Neumann , 1902)
- Gourmets or southern oryx ( Oryx gazella ( Linnaeus , 1758))
- Arabian oryx or white oryx ( Oryx leucoryx ( Pallas , 1777))
The Beisa oryx is sometimes only listed as a subspecies of the billy goat.
Surname
The name oryx comes from ancient Greek , where ὄρυξ meant "pointed iron" or "pointed tool". In addition, ὄρυς, possibly as a variant of ὄρυξ, is also the name of an "unknown wild animal in Libya" ( Wilhelm Pape ).
The German biologist Peter Simon Pallas , who worked in Russia, was the first to use the term in scientific literature in 1767. Like other authors, however, he subsequently used the name for various antelopes. Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville subdivided antelopes in 1816 and used oryx as a general term.
In Arabic , the terms Maha , Wudhaihi , Baqar al Wash and Boosolah are used for the Arabic oryx (المها العربية).
Entrance into mythology and culture
The German zoologist Josef H. Reichholf advocates the theory that oryx antelopes could have been the model for the mythological notion and widespread depiction of the unicorn . If you look at an oryx from a certain side angle, the horns, which are close together, merge into one. Because of its special adaptability to the adverse living conditions of the desert and its frugality, the gauntlet was chosen as the heraldic animal of Namibia and a stylized Arabic oryx was made the logo of Qatar Airways .
literature
- Colin P. Groves and David M. Leslie Jr .: Family Bovidae (Hollwow-horned Ruminants). In: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hooved Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2011, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , pp. 444-779
- Chris Lavers: Why elephants have big ears - on the trail of the ingenious blueprint of animals. Gustav Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2001. ISBN 3-7857-2047-5
- Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Die Welt from January 3, 2008; Fabulous unicorn. Retrieved November 21, 2009 .
- ↑ ARKive: Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 8, 2011 ; accessed on November 6, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Wolfgang Puschmann: Mammals . 4th edition. Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-8171-1817-5 , pp. 726 .
- ↑ a b A grain of hope in the desert. In: IUCN. June 16, 2011, accessed October 1, 2012 .
- ^ Wilhelm Pape : Concise dictionary of the Greek language at Zeno.org .
- ↑ a b Arbian oryx conservation in Saudi Arabia: Taxonomy & description ( Memento of October 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
