Arabian oryx towards Saudi Arabia, and by 1914, only a few survived outside that country. A few were reported in Jordan into the 1930s, but by the mid-1930s, the only remaining populations were in the Nafud Desert in northwestern Saudi Arabia and the Rub' al Khali in the south. In the 1930s, Arabian princes and oil company clerks started hunting Arabian oryx with automobiles and rifles. Hunts grew in size, and some were reported to employ as many as 300 vehicles. By the middle of the 20th century, the northern population was effectively extinct. The last Arabian oryx in the wild prior
Jabal Aja Protected Area Area because of the richness of its plant life and the presence of many endemic and relict plant species. The reserve offers a refuge to plants from the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian Regions in an area that otherwise forms part of the Saharo-Arabian Region. About 355 species of plant have been recorded in the reserve, including the plants found in the adjoining desert area of An Nafud. The plains have deep sandy-loam soils and the dominant plant is "Haloxylon salicornicum", with the desert gourd being common and "Asphodelus tenuifolius" occurring in depressions. The annual plants "Stipa tortilis", "Picris cyanocarpa" and "Anthemis"