Addax are slow moving animals so they are easy targets for hunters in their jeeps armed with modern weaponry. Their habitats are often being destroyed to make more for more farming or residential land. There are also natural factors such as droughts and desertification.
(Image credit: Chicago Zoological Society.) The addax is a species of antelope. Addaxes are also known as white antelopes and the screwhorn antelopes. They are critically endangered ; there may be only three remaining in the wild. Extinction may not be imminent, however; about 2,000 are kept in zoos and on ranches around the world.
Regional insecurity and oil industry activities in the Sahara desert have pushed the addax – a migratory species of desert-adapted antelope – to the very knife-edge of extinction according to a recent survey which found only three surviving in the wild .
What is the habitat of the addax?
The habitat of the Addax is found in arid, sandy & stony deserts. The only known self-sustaining population in the wild is found in Termit Massif Reserve in Niger, but the species is also sighted in the eastern Air Mountains in Niger and Bodeje in Chad. The species has been in constant decline since the mid-1800s as a result of being overhunted.
What is the biggest threat to the addax?
The biggest threats to the Addax include hunters and droughts that are killing off their sources of food. Between hunting and encroachment, the estimates are that there may be as many as 500 of these creatures living in the wild. However, that number is considered an over-estimation by many.
Threats The greatest threat to Addax is a man as locals hunt them without any limits or supervision. Addax are slow moving animals so they are easy targets for hunters in their jeeps armed with modern weaponry. Their habitats are often being destroyed to make more for more farming or residential land.