The wildlife of the Jordanian deserts was shot out in the 1950s. As a first step towards restoring it, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in Jordan has set up a captive breeding unit at its Shaumari Reserve, eight miles from the great oasis of Azraq. Though the first occupants are likely to be gazelles, by the time this issue appears there may well be four male Arabian oryx also. These, the foundation of what it is hoped will be the first captive herd of Arabian oryx in Arabia deriving from Operation Oryx, have been presented to Jordan by the Trustees of the World Herd of Arabian Oryx, now located at Phoenix and San Diego Zoos in the USA. There are a number of other captive herds of local origin already in the Arabian peninsula, including the well known one in Qatar.

The distribution of the Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx had declined markedly by the time European explorers documented distributions, and the species became extinct in the wild by the mid 1970s. Consequently, historical distribution records may be unreliable indicators of current habitat suitability for reintroductions. In this study diurnal behaviour of Arabian oryx was recorded within a central Saudi Arabian reintroduction site. Oryx were less active on warmer days due to an increase in shading (resting in shade) at the expense of feeding time; there was an inverse relationship between temperature and feeding. During hot conditions (maximum ambient temperature >40°C) some individuals spent <2 hours feeding during the day, compared with an average of 4.8 hours during cooler weather. This suggests the importance of shade trees to permit year-round occupancy in reintroduction sites. Selection of sites according to documented historical distribution may focus on tree-less areas, probably formerly part of the winter range. Absence of shade could result in migration out of the reserve, into areas where oryx risk being shot.

Breeding rare animals in captivity is only a second best but essential if they cannot be preserved in the wild, and in this zoos have an important part to play. Richard Fitter, hon. secretary of the Fauna Preservation Society, describes some of the most successful captive breeding programmes so far—Pére David's deer, European bison, Przewalski wild horse and Arabian oryx—and urges zoos to give serious attention now to the more difficult tasks of breeding primates and carnivores, of which several species, notably orang utans and the larger apes are endangered. He also suggests that zoos should anticipate the day when species now common become rare by establishing captive breeding programmes that would make them self-supporting in these animals.

In 1961 the Arabian oryx was in such danger that the only hope for its survival seemed to lie in capturing sufficient animals to start a breeding herd in captivity from which eventually some could be returned to the wild. The Fauna Preservation Society, aided by the World Wildlife Fund, organised Operation Oryx, and under the leadership of Major Grimwood, then Chief Game Warden in Kenya, three animals were captured. These, together with some from the very few in captivity, were sent to Phoenix Zoo in Arizona for stage two of the operation, the breeding of a stock, which is now going on successfully. Stage three, the return to the wild, still lies ahead. Describing the capture expedition, Major Grimwood emphasises the immense interest it aroused, which brought help from six governments, five zoos, scores of societies and clubs, hundreds of individuals, and several oil and other companies, including an electricity company in Kenya which emptied its showroom of ovens in order to heat the oryx's quarantine quarters to save them from the cold.

In the past six months there have been two notable developments in the follow-up of Operation Oryx, whose history was summarised in Oryx in 1982 (Vol. XVI, pages 406–410). A first release was made in Jordan, in October 1983 and a second one in Oman in April 1984. The Royal Jordanian Conservation Society should be most warmly congratulated for having been able to release, with substantial help from both the World Wildlife Fund and the Oman Government, no fewer than 31 oryx into the Shaumari Reserve near Azraq, which although fenced extends to 22 sq km. This herd derives from four pairs originating from Operation Oryx, sent from San Diego Wild Animal Park in California in 1978, and three more animals presented by HH the Prince of Qatar. Their release into the extensive natural habitat at Shaumari by HM King Hussein crowns a notable effort and provides further justification of the foresight of the ffPS in undertaking Operation Oryx 22 years ago. It is unlikely that Arabian oryx can be released into the open desert in Jordan in the foreseeable future, since the available areas are too close both to populated areas in Jordan and to the Saudi Arabian frontier, which they could not be prevented from crossing and where they could not be safeguarded.

To preserve the last surviving remnants of gravely endangered species of fauna and flora from total extinction becomes more urgent every day, as the spread of civilization takes over their native habitat. In 1931, when the American Committee for International Wild Life Protection was established, it focused attention on the need for gathering information about gravely endangered species of mammals and birds. The Committee raised funds to support research on this subject, which culminated in the publication of Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Western Hemisphere by Glover M. Allen in 1942, Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Old World by Francis Harper in 1945, and Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World by James C. Greenway, Jr., in 1958. These volumes furnish a base line of knowledge to assist future efforts in the protection of endangered species.

The return of the Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx to Oman symbolized the success of a new approach to species conservation and established reintroduction as a conservation tool. Ten years after the species had been exterminated in the wild by poaching, the first 10 founder oryx, descendants of the ′World Herd′, were reintroduced to the desert in central Oman in January 1982. A second release followed in 1984 and the population grew slowly through a 3-year drought that was broken by rain in June 1986. Further years of good rainfall and more founders meant that by April 1990 there were over 100 oryx in the wild, independent of supplementary feed and water, and using a range of over 11,000 sq km. At that time a new monitoring programme was implemented that allowed the transition from individual- to population-based monitoring and management. The population continued to grow and by October 1995 numbered approximately 280 in the wild (of which 22 were surviving founders) and used over 16,000 sq km of the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary. However, in February 1996 poaching resumed and oryx were captured for sale as live animals outside the country. Despite the poaching the population continued to increase and by October 1996 was estimated to be just over 400. However, poaching intensified and continued through late 1996 and 1997. By September 1998 it had reduced the wild population to an estimated 138 animals, of which just 28 were females. The wild population was no longer considered viable and action was taken to rescue some of the remaining animals from the wild to form a captive herd.

The National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development was established in 1986 to oversee all wildlife conservation programmes in Saudi Arabia. The Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx is one of the flagship species of the Saudi Arabian reintroduction policy. It has been captive-bred since 1986 at the National Wildlife Research Center near Taif. With the creation of a network of protected areas in the former distribution range of the species, attention has shifted to the release of captive-bred oryx into Mahazat as-Sayd and 'Uruq Bani Ma'arid reserves. Similar programmes carried out in other countries of the Arabian Peninsula underline the need for regional co-operation and pan-Arabic public awareness programmes, in addition to captive-breeding and reintroduction projects.

During the last 5 years a major conservation programme has been under way in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The author worked for the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development between 1987 and 1990, and in this article gives a personal view of the achievements of the organization and the problems it faces in trying to implement its policies.

Open plains, scorching and shadeless during the summer, windswept and freezing during the winter night, present a hard environment indeed. The surprising fact is that any form of wild life has been able to exist in such utterly waterless places. Yet up to the beginning of the present century an interesting assemblage of animals existed in the Arabian desert. Even when modern rifles came into general use the species held their own in the vast spaces to a very satisfactory extent. But the last decade has witnessed the advent of a shocking predator, namely the “Mighty Jeep”. It cannot be long now before motorized hunting parties will sweep Arabia's fauna into uttermost corners, where a subsequent drought will whiten its bones.

Post-release monitoring, including abundance estimation, is an important part of reintroductions, providing a basis for management intervention designed to achieve long-term persistence. The Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx became extinct in the wild in 1972, surviving as captive populations. Since 1982 reintroductions of Arabian oryx have taken place in Oman and Saudi Arabia. Modelling of oryx population dynamics has highlighted the importance of precise estimation of population size (N). Between 1990 and 2000 three methods of estimating N have been applied in Mahazat as-Sayd protected area in Saudi Arabia: derived population estimates (DPE) based on known births and deaths, distance sampling, and mark-resighting (MR). This study assesses the feasibility and precision of these methods. Inability to assess precision, interdependence of consecutive estimates, and the assumption that all gains and losses are recorded, make DPE of limited value. At current densities, distance sampling along 455 km of driven transects yields too few detections to derive precise estimates of N. To achieve a coefficient of variation of 20% it would be necessary to drive up to c. 2,900 km of transect; this amount of survey effort could be achieved through pooling of data across repeat surveys of established transects. MR estimates, based on re-sighting of collared oryx, have the potential to yield the most precise estimates of N when the proportion of marked animals reaches 30% of the total population. The most reliable MR estimates available indicate the Mahazat as-Sayd Arabian oryx population had grown to >400 animals by 2000.