The Shaumari Wildlife Reserve is a
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
ian
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
near the town of
Azraq
Azraq ( meaning "blue") is a small town in Zarqa Governorate in central-eastern Jordan, east of Amman. The population of Azraq was 9,021 in 2004. The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base is located in Azraq.
History
Prehistory
archaeology, Archaeologic ...
, approximately east of
Amman
Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...
.
It is a regionally important reserve created in 1975 by the
Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature as a breeding center for endangered or locally extinct wildlife. The reserve is a thriving protected environment for some of the most threatened species of animals in the Middle East. Some of the species include
Arabian oryx,
Somali ostriches,
Persian onager
The Persian onager (''Equus hemionus onager''), also called the Persian wild ass or Persian zebra, is a subspecies of onager (Asiatic wild ass) native to Iran. It is listed as Critically Endangered species, Critically Endangered, with no more tha ...
s (an
Asian wild ass from
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
) and
gazelles.
References
External links
Photos of Shaumari Wildlife Reserveat the
American Center of Research
Nature reserves in Jordan
{{Jordan-geo-stub