In August 2017 was the third release lead in Chad with the valued support of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, and the Government of Chad.
As a reminder, the objective of this reintroduction project is to build up a viable population of at least 500 animals, and hopefully confirm over the years the return of the scimitar-horned oryx back into the wild.
This summer, the number of animals reached 90, including 18 calves born in Chad.
A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure to celebrate the first anniversary of the first oryx calf born in the wild. A video of him standing peacefully at his mother’s side is such a good reward to us that we had to share this with you!
The mother and calf remain in the same good grazing area and excellent condition, 115km from camp. They continue to allow very close approach and were observed taking large mouthfuls of dry grass.
To go on with some latest news from the field, our specialist on the ground Tim Wacher also reported that no further births was to be observed lately, although one female showed strong signs of an imminent calving in the last few days. The large group of mixed provenance that formed around the release area following the August release began to show signs of breaking up, fragmenting locally, though all remain within a close radius. The 9 juveniles, released as calves in August 2017, have for the first- time divided company, with 2 spending recent days in a local splinter group with 8 adults, and the remaining seven staying in a group of 20-25, experiencing small changes as various individuals move around.
In short, we can say that the 2016 release animals are generally in excellent condition: an excellent news, and very encouraging for the project’s future developments!
