Uruq Bani Ma'arid () is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

in southern

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, located on the western edge of the

Rub' al Khali The Rub' al KhaliOther standardized transliterations include: /. The ' is the assimilated Arabic definite article, ', which can also be transliterated as '. (; , ) or Empty Quarter is a desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabi ...

(Empty Quarter), the largest sandy desert in the world. The protected area is divided into three sections; a core nature reserve; a zone where controlled grazing is permitted; and a hunting zone. 'Uruq Bani Ma'arid is in an area in which the

Arabian oryx The Arabian oryx or white oryx (''Oryx leucoryx'') 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 area ...

used to live before it became extinct in the wild. The reserve has been chosen for the reintroduction of oryx that have been bred in a

captive breeding Captive breeding, also known as captive propagation, is the process of keeping plants or animals in controlled environments, such as wildlife reserves, zoos, Botanical garden, botanic gardens, and other Conservation biology, conservation facilitie ...

programme. It has also been selected as being suitable for the re-establishment of herds of Arabian sand gazelle (''Gazella subgutturosa marica''),

mountain gazelle The mountain gazelle (''Gazella gazella''), also called the true gazelle or the Palestine mountain gazelle, is a species of gazelle that is widely but unevenly distributed. Approximately 6,000 are left in the wild as of 2024. The mountain gazell ...

(''Gazella gazella'') and

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

(''Struthio camelus''), all of which have historically inhabited the area.

Geography

The site of this protected area extends from a latitude of 19°30'N and longitude of 45°30'E, to a latitude of 19° 10'N and longitude of 45° 15'E, with a total area of . As well as the dissected limestone plateau underlying the linear dunes, the reserve includes part of the

Tuwaiq Escarpment Jabal Tuwaiq (, Tuwaiq Mountain) is a narrow escarpment that cuts through the plateau of Najd in central Arabia, running approximately from the southern border of Al-Qasim in the north, to the northern edge of the Rub' al Khali desert near W ...

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

s and gravel plains. The

ergs The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10−7joules (100 nJ). It is not an SI unit, instead originating from the centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). Its name is derived from (), a Greek word meaning 'work' or 'task'. An erg is the ...

of red sand lie parallel to each other and may be as much as high. They are separated by corridors with sandy or gravelly bases. The climate is hot and arid. Rainfall is very infrequent and averages about per year. Downpours on the escarpment cause the wadis to flow and water drains into the substrate where it is retained.

Flora and fauna

'Uruq Bani Ma'arid has been designated an

Important Plant Area Important Plant Areas (IPA) is a programme set up in the UK, by the organisation Plantlife, to provide a framework for identifying and maintaining the richest sites for plant life, possibly within existing protected areas; though the protection of ...

because of the richness of its plant life as compared to other parts of the Empty Quarter, and the presence of many plant species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Arabian Peninsula. The limestone escarpment has little vegetation but the wadis crease the sides of the escarpment and support a variety of shrubby growth including ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

s'', grasses and perennial legumes. Some scanty vegetation grows on the dunes, particularly ''Calligonum crinitum ssp. arabicum'' together with

sedges The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 generathe largest being the "true sedges" (genu ...

and perennial grasses. In the corridors between the dunes grow dwarf '' Haloxylon persicum'', ''

Moringa peregrina ''Moringa peregrina'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Moringaceae that is native to the Horn of Africa, Sudan, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and as far north as Syria. It grows on rocky wadis and on cliffs in drier areas. Descript ...

'' and ''

Commiphora myrrha ''Commiphora myrrha'', called myrrh, Somali myrrh, herabol myrrh, common myrrh, is a tree in the family Burseraceae. It is one of the primary trees used in the production of myrrh, a resin made from dried tree sap. The Commiphora myrrha tree is ind ...

''. Few annual plants grow here, but after rain has fallen there is growth of new shoots on the perennial plants. 106 species of plant have been recorded in the reserve. Between 1995 and 2013, some 149 Arabian oryx had been released into the reserve, and it was estimated in 2013 that about 500 individuals were present. The reserve is unfenced, so this is currently the only population in the wild. Arabian sand gazelle and mountain gazelle have also been successfully reintroduced since 1995. Other animals that may be seen in the reserve include the Rüppell's fox,

sand cat The sand cat (''Felis margarita'') is a small wild cat that inhabits sandy and stony deserts far from water sources. With its sandy to light grey fur, it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Its head-and-body length ranges from with a ...

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

Cape hare The Cape hare (''Lepus capensis''), also called the brown hare and the desert hare, is a hare native to Africa and Arabia extending into India. Taxonomy The Cape hare was one of the many Mammalia in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, mammal ...

desert hedgehog The desert hedgehog (''Paraechinus aethiopicus'') is a species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae. Description The desert hedgehog is one of the smallest hedgehogs. It is long and weighs about . The spines on its back can be banded with col ...

Cheesman's gerbil Cheesman's gerbil (''Gerbillus cheesmani'') is a small rodent in the subfamily Gerbillinae of the family Muridae. It is distributed mainly in Arabian Peninsula to southwestern Iran. It has orange-brown fur, white underparts, large eyes and a ve ...

lesser Egyptian jerboa The lesser jerboa (''Jaculus jaculus'') is a small rodent of Africa and the Middle East. Its diet consists mainly of seeds and grasses. Description A small rodent, it is sometimes likened to a tiny kangaroo due to its incredibly large hind leg ...

desert monitor The desert monitor (''Varanus griseus'') is a species of monitor lizard of the order Squamata found living throughout North Africa and Central and South Asia. The desert monitor is carnivorous, feeding on a wide range of vertebrates and invertebr ...

, other lizards and snakes, and feral dogs. 104 species of bird have been recorded in the reserve but there are only about 16 resident species.

Houbara bustard The African houbara (''Chlamydotis undulata''), also known as the houbara bustard (''houbara'' from for bustards in general), is a relatively small bustard native to North Africa, where it lives in arid habitats. The global population is listed ...

are sometimes seen here, possibly on migration, but the

lappet-faced vulture The lappet-faced vulture or Nubian vulture (''Torgos tracheliotos'') is an Old World vulture belonging to the bird order Accipitriformes, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the only member of the genus ''Torgos''. It ...

and

short-toed snake eagle The short-toed snake eagle (''Circaetus gallicus''), also known as the short-toed eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers. The genus n ...

breed here.

Inscription on UNESCO World Heritage List

On 20 September

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, the Kingdom of

successfully inscribed the ‘Uruq Bani Ma‘arid Protected Area on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List as the first-ever Natural World Heritage site in Saudi Arabia.

References

{{Portal, Saudi Arabia __FORCETOC__ Uruq Uruq