females was placed in the acclimation enclosure on 21 January 2017. The Marwell Zoo in Hampshire and the Edinburgh Zoo have also worked in partnership with ZSL to help reintroduce captive-bred scimitar oryx to their former natural ranges. The Tunisian reintroductions began in 1985 with 10 scimitar oryx from the Marwell and Edinburgh Zoos (co-ordinated by ZSL). In 1999 and 2007, Marwell co-ordinated the release of scimitar oryx into three more protected areas within their former historic range. In culture Ancient times In ancient Egypt, scimitar oryxes were domesticated and tamed, possibly to be used as offerings for religious ceremonies or as food. They were called ran and bred in captivity. In ancient Rome, they were kept in paddocks and used for coursing, and wealthy Romans ate them. The scimitar oryx was the preferred quarry of Sahelo-Saharan hunters. Its hide is of superior quality, and the king of Rio de Oro sent 1,000 shields made of it to a contemporary in the Middle Ages. Since then, it has been used to make ropes, harnesses, and saddlery. Unicorn myth The myth of the one-horned unicorn may have originated from sightings of injured scimitar oryxes; Aristotle and Pliny the Elder held that the oryx was the unicorn's "prototype". From certain angles, the oryx may seem to have one horn rather than two, and given that its horns are made from hollow bone that cannot be regrown, if a scimitar oryx were to lose one of its horns, for the rest of its life it would have only one. Modern times In 2015, Yellow Nose, a scimitar oryx that lives in Portland, Oregon, escaped and startled hikers in Forest Park. The following day, he was caught and returned home. References External links Oryx dammah at Encyclopedia of Life https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/environment/2021/12/22/abu-dhabi-sends-critically-endangered-animals-to-chad/?outputType=amp scimitar oryx Fauna of the Sahara Animals in mythology Mammals of North Africa Species endangered by human consumption Species extinct in the wild scimitar oryx