Endangered addax born at Brookfield Zoo
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Brookfield Zoo is welcoming a new, critically endangered (and very cute) antelope to its family.
A rare addax was born in late March. According to the zoo and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), it's estimated there are fewer than 100 addax in the wild. The organization said the species "is at serious risk of becoming extinct in the wild."
The calf, which weighed just over 15 pounds at birth, and her mother, six-year-old Simone, are on the northwest end of the zoo. The Brookfield Zoo's other addax, a three-year-old female named Ivy and Simon, a male calf also born to Simone in July 2022.
According to the zoo, the addax is known as white or screwhorn antelope and for its white coat and "impressive spiraling and twisted horns that range from 2½ to 3½ feet in length."
It's described as a true desert-adapted antelope and the only one of its genus (species group.) Addax are able to get water from plants they eat. They have "broad flat hooves that keep them from sinking in the desert sand."
The zoo said, there are more addax living in captivity in North America than in the wild. The major threat to the species is the hunting and poaching for its meat, horns, and hide, along with oil drilling.