A hundred years ago the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) were present all around the Sahara. They had disappeared from North Africa at the beginning of the century and may now be extinct in the remainder of their original range. In 1983, the Government of Tunisia requested the help of the Foundation to reintroduce oryx in Bou-Hedma National Park, so as to reestablish a free-ranging herd in southern Tunisia. A breeding herd of 10 juvenile oryx (5 males and 5 females), captive-bred in U.K. Zoological Parks, brought by air and road , were released in 1986. Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), caught in the wild in Senegal, were also reintroduced at a later date.By 1997, those first ten oryx had produced a herd of 84 animals. The operation has been so successful that the Tunisian Government is now planning the restocking of two other National Parks with some of the Bou-Hedma stock.