The Phoenix Zoo is partially credited with saving the Arabian oryx from extinction. Check it out!
So, What’s the Problem?
P O A C H I N G
Poaching Arabian oryx in the Arabia Peninsula has been ongoing for centuries for their plentiful meat, beautiful horns, and unique hides. Oryxes were also captured live and sold to private collections. It is thought that their populations have been declining since the early 1900s.
As motorized vehicles and more advanced hunting methods became popular in the 1940s and 1950s, the Arabian oryx population was under serious threat.
By the 1960s, the incredibly isolated populations of Arabian oryxes that remained had vanished and the only remaining population was in a small region of the Ar-Rub’ al-Khali Desert.
Conservation Series
Explore conservation challenges, strategies, and successes happening in ecosystems all around the world! Discover new ways conservationists are thinking outside of the box and how you and your students can make a difference.
