The Cuban crocodile , the Sumatran tiger , the western lowland gorilla , the Saharan addax . What do all of these animals have in common ? You can find them all at your Louisville Zoo . They are also all classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ).
We were thrilled to celebrate the very important birth of a male Saharan addax calf on June 14th , 2016 . It was the first addax born at the Louisville Zoo since 2013 . Night keepers named the new calf Henri after the French zoologist Henri Blainville , who first described the addax in 1816 .
The Louisville Zoo is currently home to four addax : Henri ; Hodge , six-year-old father of Henri ; Roxanne , 13-year-old mother of Henri ; and Patella or “ Ella ”, a 13-year-old female .
Henri was out and about in the exhibit on his very first day in the world . At first , he kept near to mom Roxanne , but nowadays , he enjoys running really fast around the yard . His little horns are growing daily and he has begun practicing his sparring with mom and Ella , which addax do to establish dominance . You can identify all of our addax by their horn shape . Hodge ’ s right side horn is lower or drops . Roxanne ’ s horns stick straight out . Ella ’ s come almost back and touch in the center . Addax are typically aggressive antelope and Roxanne routinely reminds her keepers and Zoo staff that she is in charge , especially with a new baby around .
Addax are one of 90 species of antelope . Of the 90 species , 24 are considered threatened with extinction . Five species of antelope are considered critically endangered ; the addax is at the top of that list .
Regional insecurity and oil industry activities in the Sahara desert have pushed the addax to the precipice of extinction . The formerly remote habitats of the addax have become major crossroads for the illicit trade of wildlife , arms , drugs and migrants . In March 2016 , researchers funded by the Save Our Species Initiative and the St . Louis Zoo spent 18 hours of flight time over the key reserves in Niger looking for addax . They found none . At the same time , surveyors on the ground found only three addax . The estimate is that the total addax population in the remnant wild is now less than 100 animals .
National legislation in Niger fully protects the addax , meaning the hunting and removal of live addax for any reason is strictly forbidden . Yet the addax population has still suffered a
4 • Louisville Zoo Trunkline • Fall 2016