Fickle soul that he was, after only a year he transferred the name to the cape gemsbok, a beautiful fawn-coated buck with long, spear-like horns, a compact, muscular body and very striking triangular black and white markings on its head.
At the same time, he also described what we now call the Arabian oryx as oryx leucoryx, giving its range as "Arabia, and perhaps Libya."
Over the next 40 years, the name leucoryx, derived from the Greek leukos (white) and orux (gazelle or antelope), went into hibernation until in 1926 one Martin Lichtenstein confused matters further by transferring the name oryx leucoryx to the scimitar-horned oryx, which had been discovered strolling casually about the place in 1826 as oryxes are still accustomed to do.
The Arabian oryx was blissfully unaware of this taxonomic jiggery-pokery and occupied its time perhaps standing about in any available shade with companion nameless oryx friends until the first living specimens reached London in 1857 and the attention of the Royal Zoological Society in London.
Paragons of courtesy, the society could not abide not being introduced to the graceful beast without knowing its name, so they decided on giving it one. They chose Beatrix. There just happened to be a Princess Beatrix in the British royal family at the time.
There is no record of whether she was as unamused as her mother Queen Victoria at one time was reported to be.
The name stuck, but the mischief was not over quite yet. One Oldfield Thomas flouted first principles by ignoring the maxim “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke” after naming another oryx the scimitar-horned oryx in a warm-up round. He renamed the oryx previously known as known as Beatrix as the Arabian oryx — oryx leucoryx.
During this time, the species was completely unaware of the academic and taxonomic tribulation and continued to stand about in shady places, eat and make lots of little oryxes. It was also unaware that it was known as the white oryx in English and is known as Maha, Wudhaihi, Baqar al Wash, and Boosolah in Arabic.
Unfortunately, there were not quite enough of the little Arabian Oryxes to survive while the world of academe was engaged in the naming frenzy, and the population in the Arabian Peninsula went into decline and ended up on the endangered species list.
However, over the last few decades, eminently sensible people in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states who are more concerned with the survival of the species than with making a name for themselves naming something else that is already named have through carefully managed breeding programs brought the Arabian Oryx back into viability.
To see these lovely creatures doing what they do best under shady trees is a real treat. They do a lot of it at the perfectly named National Center for Wildlife Research some 35 km south of Taif. These, among others, were the people who, unlike the good Mr. Thomas, “fixed it when it was broke” and left Saudi Arabia with a national animal to be proud of.
