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© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Dean Foy

Arabian Oryx

Oryx leucoryx

Physical Characteristics

  • Graceful white antelope, long straight horns, black markings on legs and face, moderately long legs, broad hooves, tasseled tail

Diet

  • Wild: Feeds primarily on grasses, also, herbs, fruits, shoots
  • Can exist for weeks without water

Behavior

  • Herd animals: 10-20 animals, equal number of males and females, hierarchy
  • Desert specialist
  • Can walk for hours
  • Occasionally digs hollows with horns and hooves for shade to rest and hide
  • Not active during the day
  • Reproduction
    • only dominant male breeds

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: gravel plains, fringes of sand desert
  • Distribution: protected areas of Oman and Saudi Arabia (once ranged over much of the Arabian Peninsula)
  • Numbers: captive 994 (12/31/91)
  • Status: Endangered, CITES Appendix I
    • completely exterminated in the wild in 1972
    • hunting: horns, hide
    • sport hunting from four wheel drive vehicles cause for final wild extermination

Conservation

  • Reintroduction
  • Protected reserves in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Oman responsible for present protected population

Research and Investigation

  • Calculation on inbreeding coefficients to maintain genetic diversity
  • Looking for "founder" animals in Middle East collections to incorporate into SSP to maintain genetic diversity

Suggested readings

  • Animal Reintroductions: The Arabian Oryx in Oman, Mark Price

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