The Scimitar Oryx is just over a metre at the shoulder and weighs around two hundred kilograms. Its coat is white with a red-brown chest and black markings on the forehead and down the length of the nose. The horns are long, thin and parallel and curve backwards (like a scimitar) and can reach a metre to a metre and a quarter on both sexes, male and female.Scimitar Oryx were hunted for their horns, almost to extinction. Where once they occupied the whole Sahara, they are now considered to be critically endangered, although there have been unconfirmed sightings in Chad and Niger.A global captive breeding programme was initiated in the 1960s. In 1996, there were at least 1,250 captive animals held in zoos and parks around the world with a further 2,145 on ranches in Texas. A herd exists in a fenced nature preserve in Tunisia, and is being expanded with plans for reintroduction to the wild in that country.There was a sighting of 10-15 scimitar oryx in Brewster County, Texas, on April 6, 2008. They likely escaped some time earlier from an exotic game hunting ranch in Texas, but now appear to be doing quite well in the arid environment around Big Bend National Park.
