19 February 2017

Fat Sand Rats near Jubail – Record by Arnold Uy

Arnold Uy took some excellent photos of Fat Sand Rats near Jubail and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website some of which are shown below. The Fat Sand Rat Psammomys obesus subspecies that lives in Saudi Arabia is P. o. dianae. Arnold mentioned there are a number of birds of prey in the area that appear to be hunting them including Long-legged Buzzard, Greater Spotted Eagle and Steppe Eagle. All these species are regular winter visitors to the Eastern Province of the Kingdom but none are common so to see them all in a small area is very interesting. I am still yet to see the Fat Sand Rat in Saudi Arabia as I obviously bird the wrong areas but will try to see these animals in the near future.
Fat Sand Rat

Fat Sand Rat

Fat Sand Rat