Arabian Gazelle – Farasan Islands

The Arabian Gazelle Gazella arabica until recently, was thought to be synonymous with its ecologically and behaviourally very similar sister species the Mountain Gazelle Gazella gazella which occurs in the Levant. Historically, G. arabica occurred continuously through the Arabian Peninsula, from the Arava Valley in southern Israel, along the Hejaz and Asir Mountains in western Saudi Arabia through Yemen and Oman, and into the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, since the middle of the 20th century, G. arabica numbers have decreased dramatically throughout their range. Small relict populations of G. arabica occur in Al Khunfah and Harrat al Harrah Protected Areas in the north of Saudi Arabia and on the Tihama coastal plain. On the Farasan Islands a strong population of about 850 individuals survives, the largest natural population in Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Gazelle is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. On the mainland the species’ survival depends on a few remnant populations in the western mountains and coastal plains and on two reintroduced populations. The number of free-ranging gazelles on the Farasan Islands has remained approximately constant since the first counts in 1988, with an overall density of 0.64 km-2. The populations on two other islands, As Saqid and Zifaf, have not fared as well, possibly because of uncontrolled hunting pressure, competition with domestic stock or poor habitat conditions overall. The population on Qummah Island is extinct. Threats to this subspecies include uncontrolled hunting and uncoordinated development, although they are not major issue at present on the Farasan Islands. Continued protection of this apparently stable population of Arabian Gazelle in Saudi Arabia is imperative to ensure the survival of the species. The coat colour of G. arabica is very variable, but is always some shade of buff. The face-markings and flank stripe are generally well expressed, and the face-markings always show a broad, smudgy black nose spot making the animals fairly easy to identify. We went looking for the Arabian Gazelles with the help of the Saudi Wildlife Authority rangers. The weather had been very wet and the tracks to the area where the gazelles are most numerous were soft. Luckily the rangers know exactly hoiw to drive in such conditions and took us in their vehicle to see the animals. Here we saw 17 animals running over the rough ground or resting under the acacia bushes out of the heat. The best time to see them is early morning 06:00 hrs or in the afternoon after 16:00 hrs. 

The Arabian Gazelle – Farasan Islands

The Arabian Gazelle Gazella arabica (Lichtenstein, 1827), until recently, was thought to be synonymous with its ecologically and behaviourally very similar sister species the Mountain Gazelle Gazella gazella (Pallas, 1766) which occurs in the Levant. Historically, G. arabica occurred continuously through the Arabian Peninsula, from the Arava Valley in southern Israel, along the Hejaz and Asir Mountains in western Saudi Arabia through Yemen and Oman, and into the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, since the middle of the 20th century, G. arabica numbers have decreased dramatically throughout their range. Small relict populations of G. arabica occur in Al Khunfah and Harrat al Harrah Protected Areas in the north of Saudi Arabia and on the Tihama coastal plain. On the Farasan Islands a strong population of about 1000 individuals survives, the largest natural population in Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Gazelle is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. On the mainland the species’ survival depends on a few remnant populations in the western Mountains and coastal plains and on two reintroduced populations. The number of free-ranging gazelles on the Farasan Islands has remained approximately constant since the first counts in 1988, with an overall density of 0.64 km^-2 and an estimated population of 1,039 on Farasan Kebir in 2009. The populations on two other islands, As Saqid and Zifaf, have not fared as well, possibly because of uncontrolled hunting pressure, competition with domestic stock or poor habitat conditions overall. The population on Qummah Island is extinct. Threats to this subspecies include uncontrolled hunting and uncoordinated development, although they are not major issue at present on the Farasan Islands. Continued protection of this apparently stable population of Arabian Gazelle in Saudi Arabia is imperative to ensure the survival of the species. The coat colour of G. arabica is very variable, but is always some shade of buff. The face-markings and flank stripe are generally well expressed, and the face-markings always show a broad, smudgy black nose spot making the animals fairly easy to identify.

We went looking for the Arabian Gazelles whilst on the Farasan Islands where they can be found by the Saudi Wildlife Authority office. You have to register here to be allowed to drive over the rough ground to look for the animals. Here the animals can be seen running over the rough ground or resting under the acacia bushes out of the heat. The best time to see them is early morning 06:00 hrs or in the afternoon after 16:00 hrs. We saw seven Arabian Gazelles including a fine male and a female and calf. The Gazelles can also be seen in the northern region at N16.991785, E 41.900282 by driving out of town on a paved road. Do not go past the beach and mangroves unless you have a 4x4 car or you could easily get stuck. The gazelles are normally seen on the coast where they are most active in the early morning or before sunset as the rest of the day they go deep inside the mangroves and disappear.

The riddle of the mystery gazelle (Arabian Gazelle or Mountain Gazelle?) – Farasan Islands

Evidence for the existence of an enigmatic species of Arabian Gazelle Gazella arabica was known only on the basis of museum specimens that was supposedly collected on the Farasan Islands and arrived from Arabia in Berlin in 1825. The museum specimen appears to document a species that disappeared soon after it was discovered and The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) included G. arabica as an extinct species on its Red List until 2008. Its status was then revised to “data deficient” owing to the lack of genetic data. Various people placed the Arabian Gazelle with the Mountain Gazelle Gazella gazelle a species that ranks among the most critically endangered mammals on the Arabian Peninsula. Past conservation efforts have been plagued by confusion about the phylogenetic relationship among various ‘phenotypically discernable’ populations, and even the question of species boundaries was far from being certain. As a result recent (2010) mtDNA sequences of 126 individuals collected from the wild throughout the Arabian Peninsula and from captive stocks were analysed. Analyses revealed two reciprocally monophyletic genetic lineages within the presumed species Gazella gazella: one ‘northern clade’ on the Golan Heights (Israel/Syrian border) and one genetically diverse larger clade from the rest of the Arabian Peninsula including the Farasan Islands as well as the Arava Valley (Negev, Israel). Applying the Strict Phylogenetic Species Concept allows assigning species status to these two major clades. The name favoured for the Arabian clade was G. arabica, given that molecular analyses would show that the lectotype of G. arabica is included in this group. If the Golan population is assigned species status G. gazella, it raises taxonomic questions as to which species name can be assigned to the populations from the Arabian Peninsula. The two oldest names are Antilope Arabica (Lichtenstein, 1827) and A. cora (Smith, 1827), but there are nomenclatural difficulties with both these names. If molecular evidence from the type material of Gazella Arabica does not confirm a distinct species and the specimens group instead with the Peninsula clade of gazelles, then this would be the appropriate name for all Mountain gazelles of the Arabian Peninsula. This is in fact exactly what happened when trying to clarify the position of Arabian Gazelle and remedy its status; researchers recently examined the DNA of the almost 200-year-old type specimen, as part of a collaborative project between German, UK and Saudi Arabian scientists. The results surprised everyone. “It turned out that the skin and the skull come from different animals” and the specimen was in fact a “composite” made up of parts representing two different lineages of the Mountain gazelle G. gazella found in the Eastern Mediterranean region and on the Arabian Peninsula, respectively. But that’s not all. The new data indicate that the Arabian form, hitherto classified as a subspecies of G. gazella and recently recognized as a species in its own right, is in fact G. arabica, alive and kicking.