English: Arabian Oryx; French: Oryx d’Arabie; Arabic: Ouach.
Former distribution: Arabian Peninsula, Sinai Peninsula to Syrian desert, Israel, Jordan and Iraq.
Present distribution: Oman, Duru and Wahiba country. Reintroduced from USA in 1980 into Oman, Jidda Valley; Jordan, Iraq.
Behaviour: See Säbelantilope
Population status: Endangered, if not extinct. Estimated numbers: Less than 200 in the wild (1969); Jordan: 73; Iraq: 4; Saudi Arabia: 8; Oman (pers. comm. M.Z. ABU JAFAR 1988): 4.
Remarks: The main reason for the decline was overhunting throughout its range, the expansion of the oil industry with its vehicles and roads, and poaching with modern firearms. Fortunately about 500-600 are kept and successfully bred in various zoos and on private farms (USA: Phoenix, Arizona, Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego Zoo in California. Arabia: Abu Dhabi, Qator, Riyadh Zoo, Dubai) so that reintroduction into Oman could be carried out.
