Overview
The smallest oryx, with a white body color contrasting the dark chocolate markings of the head, neck, legs and tip of tail. Its build is moderately heavy and there is a hump over the withers. The tail is long, with a bushy tip, and the hoofs are large and rounded as an adaptation for sandy terrain. The horns (both sexes) are long, straight and gradually divergent. Females are similar to males but somewhat smaller, and have slimmer and sometimes longer horns.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammal
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Oryx
Habitat
Savannah, desert. Distribution- Arabian oryx were once widespread in Syria, Iraq, Israel, Jordan and throughout the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, but were exterminated in the wild by 1972 from uncontrolled hunting by locals. Captive breeding programs have been underway since 1962 in the United States, Europe and some Arabian countries. Has recently been reintroduced in the wild in Saudi Arabia, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Jordan.
Diet
This animal both grazes and browses.
Behavior
Oryx are gregarious. Their normal group size is 10 animals or fewer, but as many as 100 individuals have been seen in one herd. Oryx have been described as alert, wary, and keen sighted. They defend themselves by lowering their head so that their sharp horns point forward.
Hunting
This animal was hunted rigorously and to extinction in 1972 through unregulated hunting and poaching, and has since been reintroduced and rebounded steadily. A copy of the US Fish & Wildlife harvest permit must accompany the score sheet in order for the record book to consider the entry.
Conservation Status
Listed as Vulnerable by IUCN, with a reintroduced population now totalling over 1,200 across this animal's range.