Whilst in Mahazat As-Sayd Protected Area we came across good numbers of Arabian Oryx Oryx leucoryx totaling well over fifty animals. The Arabian Oryx has been reintroduced intot he protected Area by the Saudi Wildlife Authority with the animal being a medium-sized antelope with a distinct shoulder bump, long, straight horns, and a tufted tail. It is a bovid, and the smallest member of the genus Oryx, native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabian oryx was extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private preserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980. An Arabian Oryx stands about one metre high at the shoulder and weighs around 70 kg. Its coat is an almost luminous white, the undersides and legs are brown, and black stripes occur where the head meet the neck, on the forehead, on the nose, and going from the horn down across the eye to the mouth. Both sexes have long, straight or slightly curved, ringed horns which are 50 to 75 cm long and have a life expectancy of about twenty years. Arabian Oryx’s rest during the heat of the day and can detect rainfall and move towards it. Herds are of mixed sex and usually contain between two and 15 animals, though herds up to 100 have been reported and as they are generally not aggressive toward one another, they can exist peacefully for some time.
