The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve has announced the successful reintroduction of the Persian onager to Saudi Arabia, marking the return to the kingdom of the Asian wild ass subspecies after an absence of more than a century. Seven Persian onagers, scientific name Equus hemionus ssp. onager, were translocated from the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature’s Shaumari Reserve in Jordan to the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve in April, establishing the first wild population in the kingdom in over a century.
According to a press release from the reserve, following their 935 km journey, the onagers have adapted well to their new habitat, with the birth of the first foal in the reserve, a significant milestone in rewilding efforts for both the reserve and for Saudi Arabia.
“These are the first free-running onager seen in Saudi Arabia since their extinction in the early 1900s,” said Andrew Zaloumis, chief executive officer of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve. “Historically celebrated by Arabic poets, these strong, untamable, and elusive creatures are classified as endangered by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), with fewer than 600 Persian onager remaining in the wild globally. Their reintroduction represents a transformative step for their conservation and a landmark in the kingdom’s biodiversity efforts.”
Historically, the globally extinct Syrian wild ass, a close genetic relative of the Persian onager, roamed the area that is now part of the Prince Mohammed reserve as an ecosystem engineer. Today, the Persian onager has taken its place, playing a critical role in the reserve’s ambitious landscape and seascape restoration programme, one of the largest in West Asia.
The achievement was made possible through cross-border collaboration with Jordan’s Royal Society, reinforcing the principle that nature knows no borders, the Prince Mohammed reserve said in its release.
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Batool Ajlouni, president of the board of directors of the Royal Society, said, “The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature has been conserving the wild onager since 1982 and is pleased to see these efforts bearing fruit in Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve in Saudi Arabia. The joint project began in 2024 when the reserve signed a cooperation agreement with the RSCN to conserve not only this important species, which once roamed Arabia, the Syrian Desert, and the Levant, but also to foster real collaboration in conserving ecosystems, habitats, and ecological connectivity through best practices in protected area management and effective capacity-building programmes. The Royal Society looks forward with hope that another wild population of onager is being established in Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve.”
The Persian onager, smaller than other wild asses, possesses a pale sandy-red coat, a light brown dorsal stripe, and a short tail. Renowned for their speed, these animals can reach up to 70 kmph. Their extensive migrations historically rivalled the Great Migration of Africa’s Serengeti, according to the reserve. Dating back some 4 million years, the Persian onager is older than the Arabic horse and the African zebra.
The return of the onager aligns with the Prince Mohammed reserve’s Integrated Development Management Plan, supporting the Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030. Since 2022, the reserve has successfully reintroduced 11 species, including 60 Arabian oryx, 14 Nubian ibex, 125 sand gazelle, and 22 mountain gazelle. Additionally, six bird species, including the Griffon vulture and Pharaoh eagle owl, have been reintroduced.
The reserve’s landscape-wide habitat restoration programme is enabling nature to heal, fostering the resilience required for reintroduced species to thrive and restoring ecological connectivity, according to the release. As generations witness the onager’s revival, it may once again be celebrated as a symbol of wildness and the importance of conserving it, the reserve said.
