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| A comprehensive guide
to current and future events and exhibitions in the UAE |
NATURE
General information
Natural Emirates
Key animals
Captive breeding
of rare breeds
Watching whales and
dolphins in the UAE
Scorpions and snakes
The coasts
Desert
The Mountains
Ornithological importance
of UAE
Environmental agencies
Fossil hunting
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CAPTIVE BREEDING OF RARE BREEDS
Remarkable success has been achieved in the UAE
with captive breeding of Arabian oryx since a few animals were taken from
the last remaining wild herd at the instruction of Sheikh Zayed in the
early 1960s. While once the species was on the brink of extinction, its
future is now assured, and although reintroduction programmes remain fraught
with problems none are insurmountable. Indeed, the first step in a large-scale plan to release 100 oryx into the wild took place in early 2007.More than 1000 individual oryx,
comprising several separate herds, are currently held in UAE collections.
Breeding loans of several different species are arranged with reputable
overseas institutes and an international Secretariat working on the conservation
of Arabian oryx was established in Abu Dhabi under the aegis of Abu
Dhabi’s EAD.
The islands off Abu Dhabi emirate, especially Sir Bani Yas, a private
reserve belonging to Sheikh Zayed, are undisturbed havens for several
thousand gazelle which are provided with fodder but are free to roam where
they like and are breeding in significant numbers. Considerable success
in breeding Arabian Leopard and tahr has also been achieved at Arabia’s
Wildlife Centre in Sharjah.
The National Avian Research Centre (NARC), a unit of EAD, has been successfully rearing houbara bustard in captivity and has also begun releasing them into the wild. The discovery of three houbara chicks in the UAE desert in April 2007 marked a turning point in this remarkable programme.
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