Male Arabian oryx sparring. The oryx became extinct in the wild Arabia. They have been reintroduced from animals saved by the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona

Mating pair of Arabian oryx. The male is checking whether the female is receptive.

Arabian oryx on sand dune at dawn in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, a project initiated by the ruler of Dubai.

The Arabian oryx are breeding well in the reserve, which is one of the first conservation areas in the United Arab Emirates

The desert reserve is also home to a good number of mountain gazelle

The spinytailed lizard is a large vegetarian lizard that is well adapted to shade temperatures that often exceed 40 degrees

The sand skink, or Arabian sand fish as it is known locally, hunts the soft dunes for sand lice and other insects

The Al Maha lodge practises the art of falconry. The jesses on this lanner falcon are obscured, making it look like a wild bird

The saker falcon is one of the most popular birds for falconry in the Gulf region

Though not indigenous to the area, the DDCR also has a small population of scimitarhorned oryxes.

This grey heron spends its time fishing on a small Maldivian island, catching the shoal fish that live in the lagoon's surf

The shoal fish are also hunted by larger fish and jump out of the water, often into a heron's beak, in an effort to avoid their larger cousins

Highfin rudderfish and smallspotted pompanos are common in the lagoon at Kanuhura in the Maldives