Arabian Oryx

The Arabian Oryx in one of the indigenous mammals in the Arabian Peninsula. This elegant antelope with beautiful eyes is one of Jordan’s national animals. . In our Bedouin culture, they are important and they represent beauty.

The Arabian Oryx is one of the four antelope species on earth. This smallest member of the family is between 70 and 83 high. Their fur is white with contrasting dark chocolate brown legs. They have a brown flank line and their white tail ends in black. Their faces, cheeks and throats have a dark brown, almost black blaze that continues down onto the chest. Both males and females have long, slim, almost straight, black horns. They reach between 50 and 60 cm in length. With up to 90 kilos the males weight between 10 and 20 kilo more than the females. Youngsters are born with a brown coat which changes as they grow up. Arabian Oryx herds are small with eight to ten members only.

After roaming the deserts of the Middle East for centuries, The Arabian Oryx became extinct in Jordan in the 1930s. And successfully reintroduced in Shaumari Reserve in the 1970s by The Royal Society for Conservation of Nature . Again, in 2002, The Aqaba Special Economic Zone and The Royal Society for Conservation of Nature in cooperation with Al Sheikh Zayed Project successfully started a reintroducing program in Wadi Rum and now the Arabian Oryx lives at a protected area in Wadi Rum that can be access only with a special permit.