The Arabian Oryx
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The Arabian Oryx is a medium-sized antelope which weighs around 65 - 75 kg (140 - 170 lb). Before its extermination in the wild, it is believed to have occurred in flat and swelling gravel plains.
The Arabian Oryx feed mainly on grasses. Herbs, seedpods, fruit, fresh growth of trees, tubers and roots are also a part of its diet. An Arabian Oryx can survive for week without water. It is believed that the Arabian Oryx dig shallow depressions in soft ground under trees and bushes for resting.
The Arabian Oryx are believed to live in wandering herds that follow the rare rains. It is able to make use of the fresh plant growth that occurs after a rainfall. Normally the group consists of 8 - 20 animals, but herds of up to 100 have also been reported. Oryx are very friendly with one another and the frequency of aggressive interactions is less. This allows these animals to share speckled shade trees under which they may spend 8 hours in the summer heat mostly during the day.
Arabian Oryx’s previous habitation was the rock-strewn, sandy desert regions of the Arabian and Sinai Peninsula, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. Even though they were wiped out in the wild, it was reintroduced into Oman in the 1980’s.
The Arabian Oryx’s are prized for their horns and coat and that adds them to the endangered species list.
From the time when mechanical hunting and automatic weapons began in the mid 1940’s, the Arabian Oryx became extinct in the wild by 1972.
The main reason for the extinction of the Arabian Oryx in the wild was excessive hunting. They were hunted for both meat and hides. They were mostly hunted by the Bedouin and by sport hunting by motorized
parties. Poaching of re-introduced wild Arabian Oryx has become a serious threat again. About 200 Oryx were taken away or killed by poachers from the re-introduced wild Omani herd in three years after poaching began there in February 1996.