Antelopes settle into new NZ home

They have comb-overs reminiscent of Donald Trump and corkscrew horns that could impale you, but their keepers think they’re beautiful.

Orana Wildlife Park’s newest arrivals – four criticallyendangered Addax antelopes – were unveiled in Christchurch yesterday.

Clambering out from behind a fence, the group were quickly ambling around their sun-soaked enclosure.

It was the culmination of months of organising, transporting three captive-bred females from a zoo in New South Wales, and a male, Marrakesh, from Victoria.

Marrakesh met the girls last week and was settling in to bachelor life, exotic species manager Jenny Bowles said.

‘‘He’s been romancing all round ... he’s been stoked. He initially only found the two girls and then the third girl came through and he had to double take, he was a lucky boy.’’ Each of the antelopes’ horns is about a metre long, and they also have distinctive facial markings.

It is thought to be the first time Addax have been held in New Zealand.

One of the world’s rarest antelopes, the breed is on the verge of extinction with only 100 thought to live in the wild in Niger.

However, on an aerial survey in 2016, surveyors could only find three, so it was possible the numbers were even lower, Bowles said. About 800 were held in zoos and a further 5000 in ranches in America and the Middle East.

‘‘As [people] go hunting for oil, and the military goes with them ... they are unfortunately wiping these guys out at quite a rapid rate, as well as hunting.‘‘