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Zoology in the Middle East
ISSN: 0939-7140 (Print) 2326-2680 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tzme20
Status of the Arabian Gazelle, Gazella arabica
(Mammalia: Bovidae), in Dhofar, Oman
Hadi Al Hikmani, Said Zabanoot, Talah Al Shahari, Nasser Zabanoot, Khalid
Al Hikmani & Andrew Spalton
To cite this article: Hadi Al Hikmani, Said Zabanoot, Talah Al Shahari, Nasser Zabanoot,
Khalid Al Hikmani & Andrew Spalton (2015) Status of the Arabian Gazelle, Gazella arabica
(Mammalia: Bovidae), in Dhofar, Oman, Zoology in the Middle East, 61:4, 295-299, DOI:
10.1080/09397140.2015.1101905
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2015.1101905
*
Corresponding author. Email: hadihikmani@gmail.com
© 2015 Taylor & Francis
Status of the Arabian Gazelle, Gazella arabica (Mammalia: Bovidae),
in Dhofar, Oman
Hadi Al Hikmani
a
*, Said Zabanoot
a
, Talah Al Shahari
a
, Nasser Zabanoot
a
,
Khalid Al Hikmani
a
and Andrew Spalton
b
a
Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, Muscat, Oman;
b
Office of the Minister, Diwan of Royal Court, Muscat, Oman
(Received 30 May 2015; accepted 11 September 2015; first published online 8 October 2015)
The Arabian Gazelle, Gazella arabica, was once widely distributed in Oman, but its
population decreased through illegal hunting and capture of the species. It is now
found in small, isolated populations in the country, but little is known about the size
and dynamics of these populations. In November 2014 we conducted a survey to es-
timate the density and size of two populations in the Dhofar region, one in the foot-
hills of Jabal Samhan and the other in the Nejd. Population densities were found to be
0.33 animals/km
2
at Jabal Samhan and 0.28 animals/km
2
in Nejd. The total popula-
tion size for the two areas combined was extrapolated to be 1,737 animals.
Keywords: Arabian Gazelle; population size; density; Dhofar; Nejd; Jabal Samhan
Introduction
The Arabian Gazelle, Gazella arabica (Lichtenstein, 1827), previously known as the
Mountain Gazelle, Gazella gazella (Pallas, 1766), is one of Oman’s five wild ungulate
species. Apart from the sand dunes of the Empty Quarter and the monsoon-influenced
areas of the Dhofar Mountains, the Arabian Gazelle was once widely distributed
throughout the country (Insall, 2001). However, decades of heavy poaching have dimin-
ished the species not just in Oman, but throughout its entire range in the Arabian Penin-
sula (Nader, 1989; Cunningham & Wronski, 2011).
The species may once have been found in Musandam, in the far north of Oman
(McGregor, Spalton, Al Hikmani & Hammer, 2007), but today is likely to be locally
extinct. Elsewhere in the north of Oman there are stable populations in the Ras As
Shagar Protected Area (Office for Conservation of the Environment, unpubl. data) and
As Saleel Natural Park (Steven Ross, pers. comm., 15 June, 2015). However, outside
these reserves the gazelle has disappeared from areas such as the Batinah, where it was
once widespread (Harrison & Bates, 1991), but small numbers of individuals remain in
the foothills of the Al Hajar mountains. The Al Wusta or Central Region (including the
Jiddat al-Harasis) once supported Oman’s largest population of the Arabian Gazelle
(approximately 15,000 in 1998; Fisher, 1999). However illegal capture and hunting
have greatly reduced the population in the last 20 years (Insall, 2001; Strauss, Al Kha-
rousi, & Spalton, 2009). Today only a small remnant population of a few hundred indi-
viduals survives in the Al Wusta Wildlife Reserve.
In Dhofar, the Arabian Gazelle once occurred throughout the arid areas including
the northern foothills (the ‘Nejd’) of the Dhofar Mountains, the gravel plains that run
north to the sand-seas of the Empty Quarter, the southern coastal plain and the plateau
Zoology in the Middle East, 2015
Vol. 61, No. 4, 295–299, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2015.1101905
296 H. Al Hikmani et al.
of the arid Jabal Samhan (Harrison & Bates, 1991). However, the Arabian Gazelle was
never reported from the monsoon habitats of Jabal Al Qamar and Jabal Al Qara (Spalton
& Hikmani, 2014). Today, as a consequence of illegal hunting and capture, it has disap-
peared from most areas of Dhofar although small numbers remain in the Nejd and on
the southern coastal plain, particularly between Mirbat and Sadah (Spalton & Hikmani,
2014).
Field surveys were therefore conducted in 2014 to assess the populations that were
known to remain in the Nejd and the foothills of Jabal Samhan. The principal objective
of the surveys was to provide relatively precise and accurate estimates of the numbers
and density of Arabian Gazelles in the two areas, using a technique that could be exe-
cuted within a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost. It was also important that the
survey was sufficiently robust that it could be repeated as part of a long-term monitoring
of the species. Finally, the results would help the responsible authorities to plan and
implement a national conservation strategy for the Arabian Gazelle.
Material and methods
Study area. Two study areas where the Arabian Gazelle was known still to occur were selected for
the 2014 census, i.e., to the north and to the south of the Dhofar Mountains. The northern census
area is located in the Nejd (10,117 km2) and comprises the northward-flowing wadis draining
from the mountains. The area is bounded by the Empty Quarter to the north, the Dhofar Mountain
chain to the south, the Salalah-Muscat road to the east and the Oman-Yemen border to the west
(Fig. 1). The southern census area comprises 778 km2 of the Jabal Samhan foothills between
Mirbat and Sadah. It is bounded by the Jabal Samhan escarpment to the north and east and the
Arabian Sea to the south (Fig. 1). Open Acacia-scrub and shallow, sparsely vegetated dry gravel
wadi beds dominate both study areas.
Data Collection. Using Google Earth Pro we designed nine sampling areas for the Nejd and a
single large sampling area for Jabal Samhan. Due to differences in habitat features, we divided the
Nejd sampling areas into prime habitat and secondary habitat. The northward-flowing wadis of
Ghadun, Amat, Gharah, Satum, Aydam and Harwib, where Acacia species dominate, were con-
sidered as prime habitat whereas open gravel plains with little vegetation were considered as
secondary habitat. Following available tracks we conducted a transect survey in each wadi of the
prime habitat and three in the secondary habitat. Transect length was between 5 km and 70 km. In
Jabal Samhan we drove a total of 210 km.
Surveys were carried out between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. during late November 2014 by two per-
sons i.e. a driver-observer and observer-recorder, using a 4x4 vehicle and applying a conventional
road strip count methodology (Bothma, 2002). This method is considered to be the most practical
for rangers and conservation managers to determine changes in the population size of gazelles
(Wronski, 2013). Gazelle numbers were recorded and total population sizes for each area were
estimated by extrapolating actual sightings, using the formula N = nH/h, whereby n is the number
of animals actually seen during a count, H is the size of the total survey area and h is the size of
the sampled area (Bothma, 2002; Wronski, 2013). The size of the sample areas (h) was deter-
mined by multiplying the length of the transect by its width, which was fixed at 750 m each side
of the vehicle for this study. Finally, gazelle densities (individuals/km2) for each study area and/or
habitat type were calculated.
Results
A total of 273 Arabian Gazelles was recorded during the November 2014 surveys, with
168 animals in the Nejd and 105 in Jabal Samhan census area (Table 1). The highest
number of gazelle sightings was recorded in the Nejd prime habitat but the highest ga-
zelle density was estimated for the Jabal Samhan foothills (0.33 animals/km2; Table 1).
In the Nejd, Wadi Amat and Wadi Satum had the highest gazelle density estimates
(Table 2), whereas the lowest were in Wadi Aydam and Wadi Harwib. Nevertheless, the
Zoology in the Middle East 297
Table 1. Numbers of Arabian Gazelle, density and total population estimates for Jabal Samhan
foothills and Nejd area in November 2014.
Location Total area
(km2)
Area sur-
veyed (km2) Gazelle
numbers
Density (ani-
mals per km2) Total Population
estimates
Samhan
Foothills 778 315 105 0.33 259
Nejd
(prime habitat) 4998 585.5 162 0.28 1383
Nejd (secondary
habitat) 5119 324.4 6 0.018 95
Table 2. Estimated number of Arabian Gazelle and densities for six census areas in the Nejd
prime habitat in November 2014
Area size
(km2)
Number of
gazelles
Density
(animals per km2)
Wadi Ghadun 170 45 0.26
Wadi Amat 76 26 0.34
Wadi Gharah 83 23 0.28
Wadi Satum 175 57 0.32
Wadi Aydam 44.6 6 0.13
Wadi Harwib 36.9 5 0.14
lowest estimate of gazelle density was found in the Nejd secondary habitat (0.018 km2)
where only six gazelles were sighted (Table 2).
The total population estimate of Arabian Gazelles for the two study areas, including
both prime and secondary habitat, was 1,737 gazelles.
Discussion
The first surveys of the Arabian Gazelle populations in Dhofar show that the species
still persists in good numbers in some areas of its former range. Higher gazelle densities
were present in the Nejd areas which experience less human activity (e.g., Wadis Amat,
Satum and Gharah) compared to those wadis with permanent human settlements (e.g.,
Wadis Harwib and Aydam, Table 2).
The gazelle density in Jabal Samhan foothills was overall higher than that estab-
lished in the prime habitat of the Nejd. The situation in Jabal Samhan is exceptional, as
the Arabian Gazelle seems to benefit from being close to human settlements. We sug-
gest that the presence of people throughout this area makes it difficult for illegal hunt-
ing, in contrast to the Nejd where settlements are much smaller and scattered, allowing
illegal hunting to remain unnoticed. For example, most hunting cases in Jabal Samhan
occur during the monsoon season (July–September) when the inhabitants of the foothills
move to the plains west of Mirbat and to the plateau east of Tawi Atair.
The observed low number and density in the secondary habitat of the Nejd (open
gravel plains) indicates that this habitat is less suitable for gazelles, which seem to
298 H. Al Hikmani et al.
Figure 1. Location of the study areas and survey sites for the 2014 Arabian Gazelle census in the
Dhofar region of Oman. The inset map shows the position of the study areas within Oman.
prefer areas with more vegetation cover and particularly Acacia trees on which they are
known to browse. Acacia trees also provide vital shade in this largely waterless area and
may, to some extent, enable gazelles to hide from hunters. However as reported by
Spalton & Hikmani (2014), gazelles avoid the very heavily vegetated slopes and hills of
the monsoon affected Jabal Qara and Jabal Qamar, and indeed it is likely that these lush
habitats were never part of the range of this species, which is adapted to arid land. This
observation is supported by the fact that, unlike elsewhere in Oman and throughout
Arabia where the gazelle is praised for its beauty, it rarely appears in the poetry and
folklore of the Jibbali people of Dhofar.
Overall, the observed densities in both study areas are encouraging. This is particu-
larly true regarding the density in central Oman (Al Wusta Wildlife Reserve) which was
recently estimated at 0.22 animals/km
2
(Strauss et al., 2009), compared to our estimates
of 0.33 animals/km
2
and 0.28 animals/km
2
for the two census areas. However, it should
be noted that Strauss et al. (2009) were reporting on a gazelle population that had been
decimated by widespread poaching since 1996. Our study areas, particularly the Nejd,
are more difficult to access and have been exposed to low levels of illegal hunting.
However, in the Nejd this may soon change as quarrying and oil exploration is resulting
in a greater access to these relatively remote areas.
Since the recent renaming of the gazelles of the Arabian region (Lerp, Wronski, Bu-
tynski, & Plath, 2013), their status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has not
been reassessed (IUCN, 2008). However, the populations of all gazelle species in the
Arabian Peninsula are declining (IUCN, 2008) and the Arabian Gazelle is likely to be
listed at least as ‘Vulnerable’. In Oman it has been granted protection but illegal hunting
still occurs and, with new threats arising, the population is even more in jeopardy.
While law enforcement needs to be strengthened, effective population monitoring and
awareness programs are vital to ensure the conservation of the species. In Dhofar in
particular, the Arabian Gazelle is an important prey species of the critically endangered
Arabian Leopard, Panthera pardus nimr (Spalton et al., 2006). Thus any further diminu-
tion of the gazelle population will also impact negatively on the survival of the leopard
in Dhofar, and specifically in the Nejd where a small number of leopards continues to
survive (Spalton & Hikmani, 2014).
Zoology in the Middle East 299
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the staff of the Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of
Royal Court, in particular the Director General and his deputy, for their invaluable support for our
work. We would also like to thank Amar Zabanoot, Rams Zabanoot and Musallam Al Mashaikhi
for their help during the surveys, and an anonymous reviewer for his comments on this manu-
script.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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