Antelope conservation in Africa, Middle East and Asia
Due to the pressure of severe drought, civil war and modern hunting techniques, wild antelope populations are under severe threat, with some species extinct in the wild such as the Scimitar Horned Oryx and many close to the brink.
Many species are close to extinction but thanks to international efforts including catalytic inputs from ZSL, the Arabian and Scimitar Horned Oryx are now re-establishing wild populations in Saudi Arabia and North Africa respectively. However other species such as the Dama gazelle, addax and Hirola remain on the brink.
ZSL experts contributed to early surveys in the 1980s for the endangered addax, scimitar-horned oryx and other antelope species in the Sahel - Sahara, in Niger and Chad and recently participated in surveys in the same region after a period of war.
Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, ZSL has had long term collaboration with the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD).
Near Riyadh ZSL had managed the world’s largest gazelle captive breeding centre on behalf of NCWCD since 1986. In addition to intensive veterinary and management inputs, ZSL has introduced use of molecular genetics to support stock management and breeding programmes and provided founder stocks for large-scale reintroduction of two gazelle species at three locations.
The ZSL/NCWCD partnership has played a fundamental role in the re-establishment of antelope species in response to the extinction of the Arabian oryx and the drastic reduction and fragmentation of the gazelle population.
This has resulted in one of the largest re-introduction projects ever undertaken of captive bred ungulates to areas where the species were extinct or locally extirpated. The wild living, captive bred stock now represents the largest wild populations of gazelle species in mainland Saudi Arabia.
Tunisia
In 1985 the society funded the move and assessment of ten scimitar Oryx from UK zoos to Tunisia – today this group live in a fenced area of restored natural habitat and number approximately 140.
The long term Tunisian objective is to re-establish indigenous species that became extinct and promote economic activity in a network of desert and rangeland protected areas and national parks, whilst this reintroduction work also extends to providing technical support to projects elsewhere in the country.
- Find out more about our Slender-Horned Gazelle Conservation in Tunisia
Kenya
In Kenya, ZSL has provided support and leadership in hirola conservation. The Hirola is the most endangered antelope on the continent, without any safety net as none are captive and globally it is the last representative of a genus Beatragus. ZSL inputs since the early 1990s have included veterinary and translocation support, as well as ecological research, project planning and development at the in-situ community level.
Desert by definition is highly fragile. In the past gazelles and oryx adapted and moved freely as required, however modern development is curtailing this flexibility and therefore long term captive support has become one of the tools to guaranteeing future wild populations alongside modern development.
Mongolia
In Mongolia, ZSL is now looking to extend its support given to capacity building through the Steppe Forward Programme to the Saiga antelope, a fascinating species which has catastrophically decline in the last couple of decades. This work is being developed in partnership with other organisations including WCS.