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herd is around 20 animals, and the home range of the antelopes can
extend over several thousand square kilometres. The single calf of up to
7 kg is born after about a 260-day gestation period.
Distribution and Status Like other desert-dwelling antelopes, Addax
have been hunted ruthlessly. Perhaps as few as 250 individuals survive
in the wild. Some of these may range in southern Algeria and Libya,
but most survivors are in the Sahelian countries of Mauritania, Mali,
Niger and Chad. Substantial numbers are held in captivity, and some
are being used in reintroduction programmes.
Conservation Areas Souss-Massa NP (Morocco); Ahaggar NP (Algeria);
Bou-Hedna NP (Tunisia); Tripoli R (Libya).
DAMA GAZELLE Gazella dama
Identification This is the largest of the true gazelles, with proportion-
ately long legs and neck, and slender build. Both sexes carry horns
(33 cm), which are short, bent back strongly from the base, curved at
the tips and strongly ringed. There are three colour forms: the western
G. d. mhorr has the greatest extent of rufous hair over the body; the
eastern G. d. ruficollis (Red-necked Gazelle) is predominantly white
with rufous only on the neck and shoulders; the central G. d. permista
is intermediate in the extent of white and rufous. The underparts
and rump are bright white in the three races, all of which also have a
distinct white throat spot.
Size Shoulder height 90–120 cm.
Weight 4 0 –75 kg.
Habitat and Behaviour This is a gazelle of the desert and its fringes.
At one time it occurred right across the Sahel belt and penetrated
the Sahara both from the south and north. It used to form into large,
temporary nomadic herds searching for fresh plant growth. These
movements followed a set pattern with a southwards movement
during the driest months, which turned northwards when the sparse
rains fell in the Sahara. Much of the time the gazelles lived in small
herds of females and their young, rarely of up to 15 individuals,
accompanied by a single adult ram. These herds mingled freely
with the more abundant Dorcas Gazelle. Dama Gazelle are mainly
browsers but they readily take grass and herbaceous plants. Birthing
is synchronized with the onset of the meagre rains – the single fawn is
dropped after a gestation period of about 198 days.
Distribution and Status The once extensive range of the Dama
Gazelle stretched from the Atlantic coast to the Sudan, penetrating
northwards from Morocco to Libya and possibly as far east as
western Egypt. Numbers of this species – like other gazelle species
- have been greatly reduced by hunting, competition with domestic
stock for food and prolonged drought. Probably no more than
500 Dama Gazelle survive, with the last North African animals
believed to inhabit the south of Algeria. Widely scattered, remnant