Offering up a characteristically dystopian vision, Margaret Atwood’s speculative novel Oryx and Crake (2003) tells the story of a character called Snowman stranded in a post-apocalyptic future, ... Don’t call the novel Oryx and Crake a work of sci-fi. Author Margaret Atwood prefers the term “speculative fiction”—she says the things she writes about depict a plausible version of the future.

Understanding the Context

We’ve had time to digest the final book in Margaret Atwood’s end-of-the-world trilogy, MaddAddam. Now it’s time to look at all three novels, starting with Oryx and Crake, and consider what Atwood is ... The scimitar oryx, also called the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), of North Africa used to be listed as extinct in the wild, but it is now declared as endangered. Our list showing destroyed and captured Ukrainian vehicles and equipment can be found here.

Key Insights

The methodology used by the Oryx team is explained here. Oryx belong to the genus Oryx, a group of large antelopes specially adapted for arid and semi-arid habitats. They’re not deer or goats, though sometimes confused as such. Oryx, (genus Oryx), any of three large antelopes (family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla) living in herds on deserts and dry plains of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The gemsbok (Oryx gazella), or South African oryx, is a large antelope in the genus Oryx.

Final Thoughts

It is endemic to the dry and barren regions of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and (parts of) Zimbabwe, mainly inhabiting the Kalahari and Namib Deserts, areas in which it is supremely adapted for survival.