A pair of scimitar-horned oryxes from the Kansas City Zoo are among six from North America and four from Europe that are being reintroduced in Tunisia
An Oryx is one of three or four large antelope species of the genus Oryx, typically having long straight almost upright horns. Three of the species are native to Africa, with a fourth native to the Arabian Peninsula. Small introduced populations of several oryx species exist in Texas and New Mexico, USA.
The scimitar oryx, also called scimitar-horned oryx, (oryx dammah) of North Africa is now possibly extinct in the wild. However there are unconfirmed reports of surviving populations in central Niger and Chad, and a population currently inhabiting a fenced nature reserve in Tunsania.
They are hoping to add more genetic variability by placing these ten animal with the ones already placed in the Tunisian national park in the 1980s., thus preventing sickness from inbreeding. and eventually removing the fence and reintroducing them into the wild.
Oryx Species to Help Revive Dying Breed
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