Arabian oryx  (Oryx leucoryx)

Once widespread on the Arabian Peninsula, reaching north into Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Sinai in Egypt (8). The last wild oryx was shot in 1972 and the species persisted only in captivity for a decade (8). The first herd was released into a small enclosure in the late 1970s, followed by release into the wild in Oman in 1982; the population has subsequently grown and a further introduction has been made in Saudi Arabia (6). Another re-introduction to the wild is planned for the Wadi Rum area in Jordan (9).

Inhabits the arid plains and deserts of Arabia, where temperatures even in the shade can reach as much as 50ºC in the summer months (5).