Wildlife of Jordan

The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature was established in 1966 to preserve Jordan's natural resources, a number of protected areas have been set up, and conservation measures and captive breeding programs have been put in place, resulting in an increase in the numbers of these animals.

The Dead Sea receives the water from the Jordan River and from seasonal streams in the wadis, but has no outflow.

[4] Further south, the country's western boundary is formed by the escarpment at the edge of the Great Rift Valley that continues southward to the Gulf of Aqaba.

The climate is hot and dry in summer, and cool in winter, the time of year when all the precipitation occurs.

[5] Many of the flowering plants bloom in the spring after the winter rains and the type of vegetation depends largely on the amount of precipitation.

[5] The slopes overlooking the rift valley are seared with wadis which run with water in the winter and support a lush growth of trees and bushes in otherwise inhospitable terrain.

In the rift valley, the Fifa Nature Reserve includes saltpans and areas of semi-tropical vegetation.

[7] Further south is the Qatar Nature Reserve, close to the Gulf of Aqaba, and this area is dry throughout the year and contains steppe-type vegetation with Acacia trees.

The Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, a fenced off area in the deserts of central Jordan, has since been used in a breeding and reintroduction programme for the Arabian oryx,[11] as well as other species such as the Somali ostrich, the Persian onager and gazelles.

[13] There are about twenty species of bat and a similar number of rodents including the Caucasian squirrel, Asian garden dormouse, Euphrates jerboa, Middle East blind mole-rat, and various voles, jirds, mice, rats, spiny mice, gerbils and hamsters.

Many of these are rare or accidental arrivals, and others are migratory birds in passage between their breeding grounds and their wintering quarters.

It has been introduced to several lakes and reservoirs in the region including the Azraq Wetland Reserve, although this oasis in the eastern desert is drying up because excessive quantities of groundwater are being extracted.

[16] The critically endangered Azraq toothcarp is also hanging on to existence in this single location, with a population consisting of an estimated few thousand individuals.

Most shark species pose no threats to human beings, attacks are extremely rare and are usually a result of misidentification.