An Extinct Wildlife : Scimitar Oryx

The scimitar oryx is in the red list of extinct wildlife. It is a mammalian species. Scimitar oryx is also known as scimitar-horned oryx and scientifically Oryx dammah . Again it is called the Sahara oryx.It is a species of Oryx once widespread across North Africa which went extinct in the wild in 2000.

The scimitar oryx was commonly seen in Ancient Egypt and is believed to have been used as food and sacrificed as offerings to gods. Wealthy people in Ancient Rome also bred them. The utility of their valuable hides began in the Middle Ages. The unicorn myth may have originated from sightings of a scimitar oryx with a broken horn.
The scimitar oryx had 58 chromosomes. It had one pair of large submetacentric autosomes and 27 acrocentric autosomal pairs. The X and Y chromosomes are the biggest and smallest acrocentrics. The first molecular study of this species (published in 2007) noticed genetic diversity among European, North American and some other captive or prisoned groups. Divergence was noticed within the mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, and was estimated to have taken place between 2.1 and 2.7 million years ago. Population increases appeared approximately 1.2 and 0.5 million years ago.

The scimitar oryx is basically a straight-horned antelope that stands just over 1 m (3.3 ft) at the shoulder. The males weight 140–210 kg and the females 91–140 kg.The body measures 140–240 cm (55–94 in) from the head to the bottom of the tail. The tail is 45–60 cm (18–24 in) long . They are sexually dimorphic and the males are larger than females.
The scimitar oryx can be transited or infected with cryptosporidiosis, a parasitic disease caused by protozoan parasites of genus Cryptosporidium in the phylum Apicomplexa. A study in 2004 published that C. parvum or similar organisms infected 155 mammal species, including the scimitar oryx. A research in 2005 found Cryptosporidium parasites in stool samples from 100 mammals, including the scimitar oryx. Oocysts of a new parasite, Eimeria oryxae, have been found in the faces of a scimitar oryx from Zoo Garden In France, Streptococcus uberis was isolated for the first time in an oryx.Vegetative endocarditis in the animal was caused by it.

In ancient Egypt scimitar oryx were domesticated and nursed, possibly to be used as offerings for religious ceremonies to gods or as food.They were known as ran and bred in captivity. In ancient Rome they were put in paddocks and used for coursing, and wealthy Romans ate them.

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