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Animal Age

How old does a Scimitar oryx get? (age expectancy)

What is the maximal age a Scimitar oryx reaches?

An adult Scimitar oryx (Oryx dammah) usually gets as old as 20.42 years.

Scimitar oryxs are around 248 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 9.71 kg (21.4 lbs) and measure 2.37 meter (7′ 10″). As a member of the Bovidae family (genus: Oryx), their offspring is 1 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 1.91 meter (6′ 4″).

As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.

A Scimitar oryx gets as old as 20.42 years

The scimitar oryx or scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), also known as the Sahara oryx, is a species of Oryx that was once widespread across North Africa. The species went extinct in the wild in 2000 but a group was released into an acclimation enclosure within the Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve in 2016, then reintroduced back into the wild. 21 additional animals were placed in the acclimation enclosure in 2017.The scimitar oryx has a long taxonomic history since its scientific description in 1816 by Lorenz Oken, who named it Oryx algazel. This antelope stands a little more than 1 metre (3.3 ft) at the shoulder. The males weigh 140–210 kg (310–460 lb) and the females weigh 91–140 kg (201–309 lb). The coat is white with a red-brown chest and black markings on the forehead and down the length of the nose. The calves are born with a yellow coat without distinguishing marks; their coats change to adult coloration at 3–12 months old.The scimitar oryx formed herds of mixed sexes of up to 70 members, usually guided by the bulls. They inhabited semideserts and deserts and were adapted to live in the extreme heat, with their efficient cooling mechanism and very low requirement of water. Scimitar oryx feed on foliage, grasses, succulent plants and plant parts during the night or early morning. Births peak between March and October. After a gestation of eight to nine months, one calf is born. Soon after, the female has a postpartum estrus.The scimitar oryx was once widespread across northern Africa. Its decline began as a result of climate change during the neolithic period, and later it was hunted extensively for its horns. Today, it is bred in captivity in special reserves in Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal and on private exotic animal ranches in the Texas Hill Country. In 2016 a reintroduction program was launched and currently a small herd has been successfully reintroduced in Chad.The scimitar oryx was domesticated 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 use 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 was the emblem of the ancient Egyptian Oryx nome and today is the animal symbol of the Sahara Conservation Fund.

Animals of the same family as a Scimitar oryx

Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Bovidae):

Animals that reach the same age as Scimitar oryx

With an average age of 20.42 years, Scimitar oryx are in good companionship of the following animals:

Animals with the same number of babies Scimitar oryx

The same number of babies at once (1) are born by:

Weighting as much as Scimitar oryx

A fully grown Scimitar oryx reaches around 198.4 kg (437.39 lbs). So do these animals:

Animals as big as a Scimitar oryx

Those animals grow as big as a Scimitar oryx: