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National Center for Wildlife Releases 85 Wild Animals into Royal Reserve of Prince Mohammed bin Salman

The release program primarily focuses on reintroducing endangered indigenous species to their natural habitats. (SPA)
The release program primarily focuses on reintroducing endangered indigenous species to their natural habitats. (SPA)
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National Center for Wildlife Releases 85 Wild Animals into Royal Reserve of Prince Mohammed bin Salman

The release program primarily focuses on reintroducing endangered indigenous species to their natural habitats. (SPA)
The release program primarily focuses on reintroducing endangered indigenous species to their natural habitats. (SPA)

The National Center for Wildlife, in cooperation with the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve, on Sunday released 85 endangered animals, the first batch in the 2023-2024 season, SPA said.
The release is part of the center's program concerned with increasing and relocating endangered wild animals, restructuring ecosystems, and enriching the biodiversity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The animals released this morning are 20 Arabian oryx, 40 rim antelopes, six mountain gazelles, six alpine ibexes, and a number of birds rehabilitated in the shelter unit, comprising: four steppe eagles, four griffon vultures, one lappet-faced vulture, and four pharaoh eagle-owls.
The release was made possible by the many cooperation programs between the reserve and the center to rehabilitate the reserve's ecosystems, enrich biodiversity and achieve national targets.
National Center for Wildlife CEO Dr. Muhammed Qurban said the release program aims mainly at returning endangered indigenous species to their natural habitats.
This is one of the programs of the Saudi Green Initiative, carried out in the implementation of the National Environment Strategy in order to achieve sustainable development, wildlife growth and biodiversity, in line with global environmental conservation efforts.
It is also a step that underlines the depth of cooperation between the center and national stakeholders with mutual interest.
Qurban added that the center owns facilities specializing in the reproduction and localization of endangered organisms in their natural habitats, as per the most accurate global standards; it carries out research on their living conditions, follows up and monitors biodiversity in protected areas using modern techniques to track wildlife group, collects data and understands the risks incurred by wildlife.

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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)

For many people of a certain age, high school gym class began with reaching for their toes. Then, over the years, we were told it was better to stretch after exercise.

It turns out, both those things can be true, but the differing advice has created some confusion.

Stretching can help make you more flexible, improve range of motion in your joints — and feel good. David Behm, who researches human kinetics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada, offers this advice on when to stretch and how to do it safely:

Warm up first

It’s almost always good to stretch, but it’s better if you warm up first, said Behm, author of "The Science and Physiology of Flexibility and Stretching." He recommends a light aerobic activity such as jogging, walking or cycling for five or 10 minutes.

Follow that with some static stretching, the traditional way of reaching and holding a position (think back to that gym class). You can then do activity-specific dynamic stretching, in which you warm up the muscles with repetitive movements like leg lifts.

Behm says one minute is "the magic number" for how long to do static stretching per muscle group without fatigue.

Expand your definition of 'stretching'

Should you always stretch before exercising? If it's traditional stretching, not necessarily.

The better question, Behm says, is, "Should people increase their range of motion? Should people have better flexibility? And that is yes, because it helps prevent injuries. It helps with health. But you don’t have to stretch to achieve that."

Resistance training, for instance, can be an effective form of stretching, he said. Doing a chest press increases range of motion in your deltoids and pecs, whether with barbells, dumbbells or machines, so there is no need to stretch beforehand. Just make sure to start with a small amount of weight to warm up and then add more to train.

"You probably don’t have to do extra stretching unless you’re a gymnast, a figure skater, or even a golfer who needs a great range of motion through that swing," Behm said.

Nor do you need to stretch first if you’re going for a leisurely run. Simply start with a slow jog to warm up and then increase the pace.

Don't do it if it hurts

After exercise, "light stretching is OK, as long as you don't reach a point where you're feeling pain," Behm said. Since your muscles will be warm by that point, overdoing it makes you more likely to injure yourself.

Foam rollers can help with muscle recovery and have been shown to increase range of motion as well as stretching.

Do some static stretching before sports

If you’re playing a sport, Behm said, static stretching beforehand helps reduce muscle and tendon injury.

"If you’re going to do an explosive movement, change of direction, agility, sprint, any of these explosive activities that involve your muscles and tendons," he said, "you’re going to be stronger if you do static stretching."

People can especially get in trouble when they go back to a sport they used to play, whether it's tennis, surfing or any sort of team activity.

Also, stretch both sides equally. Lacking flexibility on one side also can lead to injury.

Sounds simple. Why all the confusion? Different studies over the years have either encouraged or discouraged stretching before exercise. Behm says that partly because some studies didn't reflect real-life conditions, or were designed with elite athletes in mind, not regular people.

"If you’re Usain Bolt, it makes a difference," said Behm. Not so much for the rest of us.