The Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area is a 220,000 ha large protected area in central

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. The area is totally fenced and protection from livestock grazing has allowed a spectacular recovery of native vegetation. The reserve is now dominated by grasslands, which are a reminder of what most of the Arabian peninsula may have looked once. Mahazat as-Sayd is one of the few places where the

Arabian oryx The Arabian oryx (''Oryx leucoryx'') or white oryx is a medium-sized antelope with a distinct shoulder bump, long, straight horns, and a tufted tail. It is a bovid, and the smallest member of the genus ''Oryx'', native to desert and steppe areas o ...

has been reintroduced. In addition the reem gazelle and

red-necked ostrich The North African ostrich, red-necked ostrich, or Barbary ostrich (''Struthio camelus camelus'') is the nominate subspecies of the common ostrich from West and North Africa. It is the largest subspecies, making it the largest living bird. Evolu ...

have been reintroduced in the reserve. The area was once also home to wolves and two more species of gazelles, the idmi and

dorcas gazelle The dorcas gazelle (''Gazella dorcas''), also known as the ariel gazelle, is a small and common gazelle. The dorcas gazelle stands about at the shoulder, with a head and body length of and a weight of . The numerous subspecies survive on vegeta ...

. It is likely that striped hyenas and cheetahs once also inhabited the area.

External links

Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area at arabian-oryx.gov.sa
{{Saudi Arabia topics Wildlife sanctuaries of Asia Geography of Saudi Arabia