The scimitar-horned oryx was declared extinct in the wild in 2000. Herds of the hoofed creatures, known as scimitar-horned oryx, could be found as far west as Mauritania and as far east as Egypt. After a hunting binge in the 1980s, however, their population plummeted, and in 2000, they were officially declared extinct in the wild. As a result of the global effort, 510 scimitar-horned oryx have been born in the wild of Chad, a landlocked country in central North Africa. Of the 95 species identified in the study, the scimitar-horned oryx is the first to be successfully returned to the wild.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 12, 2023 22:28 UTC