Oryx leucoryx | UAE National Red List of Mammals: Marine and Terrestrial
Taxa
Oryx leucoryx | (Pallas, 1777)
Asessment status in full
Vulnerable
Assessment status abreviation
VU
Assessment status criteria
D1
Assessment rationale/justification
The Arabian Oryx was reportedly once common in parts of western UAE, but declined due to uncontrolled hunting and it became Extinct in the Wild in the UAE sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s. The species has recovered as a result of intensive conservation efforts. There are now currently an estimated 1,480-1,630 mature individuals in the UAE at the four main reintroduction sites. The lower estimate would qualify listing the species as Near Threatened under criterion D1. However, these estimates may be high as a result of supplementary feeding. Assuming conservatively that 20% of the oryx would survive for ten years if the feeding ceased (as required by the Red List Guidelines) the number of mature individuals surviving would be around 300-360 (the number surviving might be higher but would probably be less than 1,000 mature individuals); therefore the Arabian Oryx is assessed as Vulnerable under criterion D1. There is no rescue effect because the nearest subpopulation in Saudi Arabia is small (c.100) and the international border is now completely fenced.
Assessment year
2018
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
URL (link) of redlist assessment or publication
https://www.moccae.gov.ae/assets/download/b352eff1/UNRL%20of%20Mammals%20-%20Report%202019.pdf.aspx?view=true
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Threats listed in assessment
Uncontrolled hunting from motor vehicles is believed to be the principal cause of the disappearance of the oryx from the wild. Released populations and those in private collections are now safe from this threat, but the security of animals outside these sites cannot be guaranteed. Drought and overgrazing have reduced habitat quality in places and limited the choice of potential release sites. Fenced sites are also subject to the risk of density-dependent mortality especially in cases of prolonged drought: e.g. 560 oryx died in such conditions in Mahazat as Sayd reserve in west-central Saudi Arabia over the period 1999-2008 (Islam et al. 2010).
Conservation Measures
Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:
History
Hornby (1996) assessed the species Extinct in the Wild and this status is used as the backcasted assessment for the species in 1996.
Scientific Name | Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oryx leucoryx | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Cetartiodactyla | Bovidae | Oryx |