Friday 20 / September / 2024
Widely loved due to its status as the national animal of the Sultanate of Oman, the Arabian Oryx has lived in the country for millennia. While other animals may not do so well in the desert, the oryx thrives in the arid scrubland that it calls home. An animal that is not easy to spot in the wild — due to its preference for remote, uninhabited locations — the oryx has been the subject of animal conservation programmes in Oman and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The animal also has a very strong cultural and historic presence in both the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Despite efforts to raise numbers of the oryx, it continues to be a species that is vulnerable to population decline. While strict laws forbid oryx hunting and poaching in Oman and a number of other Arab countries, including Iraq and Jordan, the oryx’s desert habitat is also slowly being encroached upon by human development.
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species — a list of animals and plants that are prone to extinction due to natural and human factors — has the Arabian Oryx listed on it as ‘vulnerable’, placing it in the fifth tier of concern over the presence of species in the wild.
The tiers that are below it, in terms of the numbers of a particular animal moving towards extinction are ‘endangered’, ‘critically endangered’, ‘extinct in the wild’ and ‘extinct’.
Despite the hard-to-find nature of the oryx, tourists who come to Oman can still go on tours to see them. Bookings can be made online and in advance, and to see the majestic animal in its habitat is one of the fondest memories you can create while in the Sultanate.
