JEDDAH: The birth of an onager foal in Saudi Arabia after more than a century marks a major milestone in the Kingdom’s efforts to restore native species and revive ecosystems that once shaped the Arabian Peninsula.
“There is something profoundly beautiful about an animal once sung of by poets in this very land over 1,000 years ago returning to our desert, its comeback heralded by the birth of a foal after some 100 years of absence. It heralds the return of a symbol of freedom, resilience, and the wild spirit that has always defined the desert.”
Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve, told Arab News that the birth of the first onager born and bred on Saudi soil in more than a century represents far more than the arrival of a single animal.
Announced in June, the birth was achieved under the reserve’s ReWild Arabia program, which aims to return 23 historically occurring native species to their former ranges.
FASTFACT
Did you know?
- The onager appeared in more than 80 poems from pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabia, with poets describing its speed, behavior and seasonal movements in remarkable detail.
- Fewer than 600 Persian onagers remain in the wild across a handful of countries, making Saudi Arabia’s protected areas increasingly important to the species’ long-term survival.
- They are among the fastest land mammals on Earth, capable of sustaining sprinting speeds between 64 to 70 kph (40–43 mph) across flat, unforgiving landscapes — an essential survival tool.
The male foal was born in June 2025, but the announcement was delayed until it completed its first year — the most vulnerable stage of its life, with only about half of onager foals surviving that period.
The reserve confirmed that the young animal successfully passed its critical first 12 months, while two additional mares are pregnant and expected to give birth during the winter.
The achievement comes as the Persian onager faces growing threats. Fewer than 600 are believed to remain in the wild, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified the subspecies as critically endangered in 2025. The IUCN has projected that its population could decline by 90 percent by 2050 without effective conservation measures.
The onager once held a prominent place in Arabia’s natural and literary heritage. The animal appeared in more than 80 surviving poems from the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras, admired for its speed, vigilance and independence.
“In the verses of Arabia’s earliest poets, the onager was celebrated for speed no hunter could match, vigilance no danger could break, a spirit no hand could tame,” Zaloumis said.
Unlike domesticated horses and donkeys, the onager resisted human control, becoming a symbol of freedom and the untamed character of the desert.
Across the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve, ancient petroglyphs depicting wildlife provide evidence of the species and ecosystems that once existed across the region. These records are helping guide restoration efforts aimed at bringing back native species.
Fourteen of the 23 species targeted under ReWild Arabia have now been reintroduced, while six — including the Persian onager — have successfully bred.
The reserve’s long-term ambition is to restore habitats capable of supporting native predators, including the Arabian leopard and cheetah, as well as lions.
Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve. (SUPPLIED)
“Saudi Arabia has the scale, visionary leadership and clear strategic direction, and is rapidly building the track record to become the regional hub for onager conservation.” Zaloumis said
The birth follows the reintroduction of onagers to Saudi Arabia from Jordan in April 2024 through a partnership with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.
Seven animals — five females and two males — travelled 935 km overland from Jordan’s Shaumari Wildlife Reserve to the Saudi reserve.
A female foal conceived in Jordan was born shortly after the herd arrived. However, two later pregnancies ended unsuccessfully, including one that resulted in the death of a mare, highlighting the challenges involved in restoring endangered species.
After a gestation period of about 11 months, an onager foal must stand and begin nursing within 15 to 20 minutes to receive the colostrum needed to support its immune system and survival.
The herd now consists of five females and three males, including subadults, and remains the only onager population in Saudi Arabia.
The Persian onager is a subspecies of Equus hemionus, one of the oldest members of the horse family, with origins dating back about 4 million years.
The species has five subspecies. One of them, the Syrian onager, once roamed the Arabian Peninsula in herds of up to 100 animals but was driven to extinction by hunting and habitat loss. The last known Syrian onager was shot in Iraq in the early 1920s, and the final captive animal died at Vienna Zoo in 1927.
The Persian onager, its closest surviving relative, is central to efforts to restore the ecological role once played by onagers in Arabia.
The animals help shape landscapes through grazing and seed dispersal, influencing vegetation patterns and supporting ecosystem health. They also serve as flagship species that can generate public support for wider habitat conservation.
“A single species cannot restore an ecosystem alone, but the return of a charismatic, flagship species plays an important role both ecologically and culturally.” Zaloumis said
Protecting the onager also requires safeguarding native vegetation, open terrain and wildlife corridors.
Zaloumis explained, its successful breeding is therefore viewed as an indicator that broader landscape restoration is progressing, with habitats recovering and ecological connections being rebuilt across the reserve.
The project forms part of wider conservation efforts in Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom works toward protecting 30 percent of its land and marine areas by 2030.
Saudi Arabia, a signatory to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, has increased the share of protected land from about 4.5 percent in early 2018 to 18 percent. Marine protection has also risen from around 2.5 percent to 16 percent over the same period.
Several national programs are working to restore species that have disappeared from the wild or face severe threats.
Through its partnership with Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve has also received another female onager. The addition will support plans to establish two separate breeding herds, improving genetic diversity and strengthening the population’s long-term resilience.
The reserve aims to create a founder population capable of supporting future reintroductions in Saudi Arabia and across the region.
Zaloumis said conservation success should not be measured only by the number of animals released, but by whether ecosystems can eventually function without constant human intervention.
The onager serves as an indicator because it requires extensive open terrain, healthy native vegetation and connected migration corridors. Conditions that allow it to survive can also support other species sharing its habitat.
“Our goal is that in 10 years time you don’t need a sign to tell you are in a nature reserve, nature will speak for itself.” Zaloumis said
Over the next 25 years, the reserve aims to establish self-sustaining populations of Arabia’s iconic wildlife, with herds moving through restored rangelands and predators returning to their historic territories.
The longer-term vision includes ecological corridors connecting protected areas across the region, preventing wildlife populations from becoming isolated and creating a living, connected landscape.
