The national animal of Qatar is the Arabian oryx. These antelope are famous for their long horns and have a distinctive rise in their shoulders behind the head. They are a vitally important symbol in this part of the world and play an important role in the Qatar’s folklore both historically and in the modern day.
The Arabian oryx is in many ways the ultimate embodiment of desert life in this part of the world.
They are renowned for their ability to go long periods of time without water and are excellently adapted to life in the hot, dry desert.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of Qatar?
The national animal of Qatar is the Arabian oryx.
This is a species of antelope which is endemic to this part of the world, and for many reasons it has a very important place in the heart of Qatari culture.
As an antelope it is a bovid, and the smallest member of its genus, Oryx.
They are native to the Arabian Peninsula and live in desert and steppe areas throughout the region.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Arabian oryx is the history of its conservation.
By the 1970s, overhunting and the loss of habitat had driven the oryx into total extinction in the wild.
There were still a great many individuals in zoos and private menageries, but they had been entirely wiped out in the wild.
Fortunately, though, efforts to reintroduce populations into the wild were successful, and they became re-established.
Their conservation status would continue to fluctuate and they would once again be in danger of dying out, but in 2011 they were reverted from endangered to vulnerable in a huge victory for the species.
They are still, doubtless, in need of protection, but we can see just how much they have endured in recent decades.
They stand between 2.6 and 4 feet tall at the shoulder and usually weigh 220 to 460 pounds.
They have luminous white coats with brown legs and undersides, as well as black stripes on the head, neck and face.
Doubtless their most striking physical feature is the long horns on their heads, which are present in both males and females.
These horns can range to two to five feet in length.
They ranged throughout most of the Middle East historically, though their range was largely pushed back to Saudi Arabia by the beginning of the 20th Century.
Why is the oryx the national animal of Qatar?
The decision to make the oryx Qatar’s national animal came in 2008, and ever since it has been an important national symbol of pride.
Often, one of the main reasons that an animal is chosen as a country’s national animal is in order to bring attention to conservation efforts.
As we’ve seen, the plight of the Arabian oryx has been fraught with peril of extinction over the years and, of course, actual extinction in the wild at one point.
So, the decision to make the oryx the national animal was both in recognition of the fact that more awareness needed to be brought to the struggle of the animal, but also to signal the success that had already been achieved in bringing the animal back and increasing their population numbers.
They are symbols of national pride in this sense, too.
In a simpler, more universal sense, though, the Arabian oryx is simply a symbol of the natural beauty of Qatar.
They embody the desert and can very long periods of time without water—some suggest even as long as a year by eating moist plant matter in the ground.
With their long horns and luminous white coats they are embodiments of Qatar’s natural landscape.
Are Arabian oryx extinct?
Arabian oryx are not extinct, though in the wild they were at one point.
This is what often leads to this confusion, as it can sound as though the animal went completely extinct before, somehow, being miraculously brought back.
As we’ve seen, the animal did go entirely extinct the wild largely due to very large scale hunting in the region. In the early 20th Century, large groups of sometimes 300 vehicles would go out hunting huge numbers of them.
By the 1970s there were no wild populations, but they were successfully reintroduced from captive populations.
Thus, they were brought back into the wild.
Are Arabian oryx aggressive?
Arabian oryx are not inherently very aggressive animals. In fact, even among themselves they are usually very peaceful and large groups can coexist for long periods of time without much conflict at all.
They have no predator in the wild except wolves and, obviously, humans.
So, they are not generally very aggressive creatures and will not seek out conflict.
That said, if you managed to corner one somehow, they would do all in their power to intimidate and even attack you if they had no other choice.
Those large horns are certainly not for nothing, though they are more for display than actual use.
An animal, then, which died out entirely in the wild but was reintroduced and is now doing better than it has been for years; it’s easy to see why Qatar might choose the oryx as their national animal.
Few creatures embody life in this part of the world as well as the oryx does, so again it’s no surprise that many countries in this area have adopted the oryx as their official national animal.