Reintroduction of addax to Djebil National Park, Tunisia

Summary

The addax (Addax nasomaculatus), Critically Endangered and reduced to perhaps under 100 individuals in the wild, had disappeared from Tunisia in 1932. Marwell Wildlife, Tunisia's Direction Générale des Forêts (DGF) and international zoo partners worked to re-establish a founder population in the 7,700-hectare fenced core of Djebil National Park, part of a national strategy that had already reintroduced addax to other Tunisian parks. In February 2007, 15 addax bred at Tunisia's Bou Hedma National Park were translocated to Djebil, followed in December 2007 by 13 more animals from US and European zoo populations, selected through international studbook pedigree analysis for genetic diversity; all were quarantined and acclimatized before release from enclosures in February 2008. Trained national park rangers, supported by visiting ecologists and veterinarians, monitored behavior, body condition and life events, and supplementary feeding during droughts was trialed but caused competitive aggression and cases of acidosis. Calves were born steadily, and by 2011 the population had roughly doubled to about 60 animals, but deteriorating perimeter fencing and sand accumulation later allowed animals to disperse beyond the park, complicating monitoring even as a core population persisted and kept reproducing. A 2017 follow-up project with DGF and Marwell began genetic sampling and surveying the wider Grand Erg Oriental to assess the unplanned dispersal. The project rates itself successful, citing international and local cooperation, habitat recovery that supported post-release grazing, a genetically diverse founder population, and stable growth in the first five years.