Arabian oryx

Oryx eat grass and shrubs.

They can go a long time without drinking. They get water from plants, and they lick dew off rocks.

Arabian oryx eat many kinds of desert grasses and shrubs. They drink at water holes when they can, but they can also go a long time without drinking, getting enough moisture from wild melons and juicy bulbs.

Oryx seem to be able to tell where rain has fallen far away, and they travel toward the fresh green plants that grow after it. Oryx can also lick dew off their coats or off rocks.

The diet is a mix of desert grasses and shrubs. Where free water exists they drink at streams and water holes, but when it does not, moisture from melons and succulent bulbs can sustain them for long periods; San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance adds that oryx can lick dew from their coats or from rocks.

Animal Diversity Web reports that Arabian oryx can detect rainfall from a great distance and move toward the new plant growth, wandering without a set pattern because desert rain is so irregular. Like other oryx, they are ruminants, chewing the cud while they rest through the hottest part of the day.

Oryx live in small herds.

They eat in the morning and the evening. In the hot middle of the day, they rest in the shade.

Arabian oryx live in herds, usually of 10 or fewer, though up to 100 have been seen together. They are most active early in the morning and again in the late afternoon and evening, and they rest in the shade through the heat of the day.

In one reintroduced group in Jordan, the oryx grazed from just after dawn, rested in the afternoon, grazed again, and then walked to a sleeping place around sunset. Some males live alone in large territories.

Oryx are gregarious, with typical groups of 10 or fewer and occasional herds of up to 100. Animal Diversity Web reports that by 1993 the reintroduced population in Oman had grown to 18 breeding herds averaging 5.8 animals, with ranges averaging 57 square kilometers, plus 10 solitary bulls in territories of 44 to 453 square kilometers and a small bachelor herd.

In captivity herds usually consist of one dominant male with several females and young, and bachelor males establish a hierarchy through chases and sparring. A Jordanian herd was active from dawn, grazed until mid-morning, rested in the afternoon, grazed again and moved to a sleeping area at sunset.

Long ago, people hunted all the wild oryx.

But some oryx lived safely in zoos. People helped them have babies and brought them back to the desert.

Hunting wiped out the Arabian oryx in the wild. Animal Diversity Web says the last known wild oryx were killed in 1972. Luckily, people had already started breeding oryx in captivity. Nine oryx sent to the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona became the World Herd.

Oryx bred in captivity were returned to the wild in Oman in 1982, Jordan in 1983 and Saudi Arabia in 1990, and later to other places. Today the IUCN lists the Arabian oryx as Vulnerable, with about 850 adults living wild.

Overhunting drove the Arabian oryx out of the wild, but sources date its disappearance differently: Animal Diversity Web reports the last known wild animals killed in 1972, with unconfirmed reports as late as 1979, while San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says it was extinct in its native habitat by the 1960s. Captive herds were started in the 1950s and 1960s, and nine animals from Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and London Zoo formed the World Herd at the Phoenix Zoo; a second group began at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Reintroductions followed in Oman in 1982, Jordan in 1983 and central Saudi Arabia in 1990, and SDZWA reports that 73 oryx have been returned to Oman, the UAE and Jordan. The IUCN's 2016 assessment lists the species as Vulnerable (criterion D1), with about 850 mature individuals and a stable trend; small population size keeps it at risk.