East African Oryx
Oryx beisa
- Class
- Mammal
- Rarity
- Epic
- Observations
- 649
- Most observed in
- 🇰🇪 Kenya
- Conservation
- Endangered
Description
The East African oryx (Oryx beisa), also known as the beisa, is a species of medium-sized antelope from East Africa. It has two subspecies: the common beisa oryx (Oryx beisa beisa) found in steppe and semidesert throughout the Horn of Africa Somalia and north of the Tana River, and the fringe-eared oryx (Oryx beisa callotis) south of the Tana River in southern Kenya Somalia and parts of Tanzania. The species is listed as Endangered by the IUCN. In the past, some taxonomists considered it a subspecies of the gemsbok (Oryx gazella), but they are genetically distinct; the diploid chromosome count is 56 for the beisa and 58 for the gemsbok.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “East African oryx”.