Twenty Arabian oryx – eight males and 12 females – have been released in Jordan’s Wadi Rum as part of a $1.1 million programme to reintroduce the oryx into its natural habitat.

The three-year project also includes rehabilitating the habitat in the Wadi Rum Protected Area, 720 sq km of dramatic desert wilderness in the south of Jordan, and helping local residents to improve their living standards.

 

Oryx once roamed the Arabian Peninsula but hunting and habitat destruction have led to its extinction in the wild. The oryx was officially declared extinct in the wild in 1972; it has been extinct in Jordan for 80 years.

HE Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi, managing director of EAD, said that the species is not only endangered but also an important part of the Arabian Peninsula’s heritage; as part of a longterm commitment to conserve the UAE’s biodiversity, “the Arabian Oryx has received a large share of the UAE wildlife protection and sustainable development strategy”.

He explained: “In the early 1960s, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the UAE, directed the capture of two breeding pairs of the Arabian Oryx for the nucleus of a captive-breeding programme in Al Ain. All of these efforts were continued and translated by the vision and wise directives of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was inspired by the legacy of his father.”

As a result, the UAE today has the largest group of Arabian oryx in the world, with more than 4,000 animals.

There are five species of oryx in total, four found in Africa and one – the Arabian oryx –native to our region. The Arabian oryx feeds on grasses and young shoots of shrubs, and is adapted to living in desert areas – for instance deriving virtually all its drinking water from the morning dew on desert plants. Its long thin horns, which curve backwards slightly, can reach up to 90cm.

[Originally published in Abu Dhabi Week vol 2 issue 28]