The generic name Addax is thought to be obtained from an Arabic word meaning a wild animal with crooked horns. It is also thought to have originated from a Latin word. The name was first used in 1693. The specific name nasomaculatus comes from the Latin words nasus (or the prefix naso-) meaning nose, and maculatus meaning spotted, referring to the spots and facial markings of the species. Bedouins use another name for the addax, the Arabic bakr (or bagr) al wahsh, which literally means "the cow of the wild". That name can be used to refer to other ungulates as well. The other common names of addax are "white antelope" and "screwhorn antelope". Genetics The addax has 29 pairs of chromosomes. All chromosomes are acrocentric except for the first pair of autosomes, which are submetacentric. The X chromosome is the largest of the acrocentric chromosomes, and the Y chromosome is medium-sized. The short and long arms of the pair of submetacentric autosomes correspond respectively to the 27th and 1st chromosomes in cattle and goats. In a study, the banding patterns of chromosomes in addax were found to be similar to those in four other species of the subfamily Hippotraginae. History and fossil record In ancient times, the addax occurred from northern Africa through Arabia and the Levant. Pictures in a tomb, dating back to 2500 BCE, show at least the partial domestication of the addax by the ancient Egyptians. These pictures show addax and some other antelopes tied with ropes to stakes. The number of addax captured by a person were considered an indicator of his high social and economic position in the society. The pygarg ("white-buttocked") beast mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:5 is believed to have been an addax. But today, excess poaching has resulted in the extinction of this species in Egypt since the 1960s. Addax fossils have been found in four sites of Egypt – a 7000 BCE fossil from the Great Sand Sea, a 5000–6000 BCE fossil from Djara, a 4000–7000 BCE fossil from Abu Ballas Stufenmland and a 5000 BCE fossil from Gilf Kebir. Apart from these, fossils have also been excavated from Mittleres Wadi Howar (6300 BCE fossil), and Pleistocene fossils from Grotte Neandertaliens, Jebel Irhoud and Parc d'Hydra. Physical description The addax is a spiral-horned antelope. Male addaxes stand from at the shoulder, with females at . They are sexually dimorphic, as the