Ungulates

The following is a list of the various ungulates kept at the Breeding Centre and as part of the collection for Arabia's Wildlife Centre, Sharjah. 

Order Artiodactyla:

The Arabian Oryx has had a traumatic past. Despite being perfectly adapted to life in the vast desert region of the Arabian Peninsula the Oryx was extinct in the wild by the early 1970's and only survives today as a result of dedicated captive breeding programmes.

The Oryx once thrived throughout most of the Arabian Peninsula, roaming the deserts between Iraq and Syria in the north and Oman and Yemen in the south. However by the late 1950's the advent of motorised hunting parties and automatic weapons had, had a serve impact on the wild population. The hunting continued unchecked and the remains of the last wild Arabian Oryx were found on the plains of the Jiddah in central Oman in 1972.

Fortunately having identified the threat to the Arabian Oryx the Fauna Preservation Society (FPS) launched "Operation Oryx" in 1962. Three animals were successfully caught close to Oman's western boarder and flown to Phoenix Zoo in the USA. Four other animals from Saudi Arabia, one from Kuwait and another from London Zoo then joined these animals. Together this herd became known as the "World Herd".

Not many animals are able to survive in the harsh desert environments, which cover most of the Arabian Peninsula, let alone thrive there. The Arabian Oryx has adapted superbly and overcome many of the obstacles, which prevent other species from inhabiting these arid regions. The most obvious obstacles being the lack of water and soaring summer temperatures.

Extremely efficient feeders Oryx can obtain nearly all their water requirements from the plants they feed upon and have been known to go without drinking water for as up to 20 months. They also seem able to sense sub terrain water and often dig to expose nutritious roots. This trait is so instinctive that the captive Oryx here at the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife dig around the palm trees to get to the irrigation pipes, even though there are permanent water troughs.

Any animals metabolic rate contributes to its' body temperature and by slowing it down during the hottest part of the day the Oryx limits unnecessary heat gain. It is not uncommon to see even captive Oryx feeding during the cooler parts of the day and at night when excess body heat can be lost simply through conduction and radiation.

The Oryx is also able to store heat, for most animals if their body temperature is raised by a even a couple of degrees above normal even for only a few hours it can be fatal. The Oryx on the otherhand is able to raise its' body temperature by several degrees without suffering any ill effects. It is able to do this because it keeps its' brain cool, the warm arterial blood on the way to the brain is cooled by the venous blood returning form the nasal passages in the cavernous sinus.