The addax is a critically endangered antelope that used to roam the Sahara Desert in large numbers, but is today restricted to a few small vulnerable populations in the wild. An international team of scientists led by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the University of Potsdam sequenced DNA from historical museum specimens. Their study, published in Genes, showed that addax used to roam widely across their entire Saharan range before human disturbance drastically reduced their numbers and potentially their genetic diversity too. This work emphasises the importance of museum collections for research about the preservation of highly endangered species.