The Nubian ibex has survived among Arabia's rugged foothills and escarpments for thousands of years. Under the auspices of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the author has studied these wild ungulates in their arid environments over a period of several years. His work provides a unique insight into their biology, ecology and behaviour. The ibex is of key importance in Arabia's conservation strategy and the author reveals how it has fared in the modern age, assisted by impressive conservation measures. This book is a most eloquent statement in support of Arabia's wildlife in general, and the Nubian ibex in particular.

An inhabitant of Saudi Arabia since the last Ice Age, the Nubian ibex is found today among the country's rugged mountains and along precipitous escarpment edges where its sure-footed agility provide an effective defence against most predators, including man. As Arabia's climate became drier, the ibex adapted to changing conditions. Its unrestricted feeding habits enabled it to utilize a wide range of plants including some that contain toxins, such as the desert melon (Citrullus colocynthis).

Males and females are markedly different in appearance with the dominant males growing to twice the size of females and possessing impressive curved horns with prominent knots. These are used as potentially lethal weapons in violent head-banging rivalry between competing males during the rutting season. Once dominance is established the victorious male takes possession of the females with whom he mates. Offspring are born in early springtime and there is a high incidence of twins. This biological adaptation enables populations to rapidly recover after set-backs caused by prolonged droughts or intense hunting pressure. Saudi Arabia's conservation programme of establishing certain protected areas has resulted in several important population recoveries from relict ibex groups.

This book is a unique reference to a little known species and provides much valuable and fascinating information on how ibex live in their natural Arabian environment. The author, whilst acting in a professional capacity, successfully communicates to the reader his deep love of Arabian wildlife and his respect for creatures like the ibex that can thrive where most animals would soon die from heat, thirst or hunger. It will be of interest to students, research scientists and naturalists, including those whose interest in Arabian wildlife is a pleasurable pastime rather than a purely professional pursuit.

HAYAT: The Arabian Leopard

This small booklet, published in English and Arabic, has been beautifully written by Dr Marijcke Jongbloed and charmingly illustrated by herself and Anneke Boers. The author is a founder member of the Arabian Leopard Trust. She has taken a true incident involving two wild Arabian leopards which were hunted by farmers in the mountains of the UAE, and turned it into a heart rending nature story in the tradition of such authors as Henry Williamson whose cry from the heart for otters of Britain's west country (Tarka The Otter) became a best selling book and provided powerful support for movements to save Europe's otters from intolerable hunting pressure. In this case the hunted animals, Arabian leopards, are somewhat closer to extinction than the otter which has enjoyed a come-back in some areas.

The book takes readers through the life of two Arabian leopards living in the mountains of southern Arabia. Not only is this a beautiful story of freedom and wildness, but it is also a sad tale of how our own species seems to have lost the ability to live in harmony with nature.

The author's personal insight into both wild cats and their habitat is abundantly clear throughout this story. "Hayat stood up slowly and lazily stretched her lean body. She growled softly, and was happy to hear the answering purr from her brother nearby. He greeted her with a playful slap of his enormous paw on her side, and she nuzzled his face and licked his ear...." Together, the young Hayat and Sultan her brother, experience a series of adventures, an encounter with a saw-viper; a chase for partridge; being chased by an Eagle Owl; capturing a lizard; encounters with hedgehogs, foxes, toads, and a host of wildlife before being lured down into a valley where farmers had their goats. It was the apparently easy pickings of domesticated animals that brought about their downfall as farmers pursued them back towards their mountain lair.

"Even though Sultan was well camouflaged in the shade of the overhanging rocks, the men with sharp eyes had spotted him. They froze in their steps and slowly raised the long sticks to their eyes. Hayat saw it and fear overwhelmed her. With the hair between her shoulderblades raised high, she bounded out of the shelter of the cave and spoed like lightning up the side of the mountain. Sultan was just a bit slower, still trying to figure out what the men were doing. Two loud cracks of noise tore through the silence of the morning.

"The birds stopped singing in mid-song, scattering out of bushes and trees. Unnoticed, a Red Fox ducked behind a rock and disappeared into a burrow in the ground.

"Sultan never felt anything. He had just started to stand up, when the bullet hit him in his flank. It tore into his heart and he dropped down without a sound. Sultan, the Powerful, had been overpowered..."

But the story does not quite end there. This is a tale for adults and children. It is a book to be treasured and a story that should be told to all the people living where the Arabian leopard still survives. It could play a significant role in changing attitudes to Arabian wildlife in general and to the leopard in particular.

Further particulars on this book are obtainable from the Arabian Leopard Trust, PO Box 12119, Dubai, UAE.

Indian Ocean: Tropical Fish Guide
by Helmut Debelius, published by Aquaprint.

The author is a keen diver, underwater photographer, marine aquarist and self taught marine taxonomist. He has dived extensively in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and is responsible for many valuable observations on both distribution and behaviour of coral-reef fishes. This new book provides an attractively illustrated account of the main groups and species of fish that one is likely to en-counter in the most popular diving locations of the Indian Ocean, including the Mal-dives, Comoros, Seychelles and southern Arabia. The author informs us that the book is also being published as a CD-ROM which will make a welcome addition to the computer accessible information on Ara-bian marine biology.

The Mammals of Arabia: (Second Edition)
by David.L.Harrison & Paul J.J. Bates, published by Harrison Zoological Museum .

This is a thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the original version which appeared in three separate volumes, first published in 1964, 1968 and 1972. Since then additional studies have produced a considerable body of new information which has been incorporated into this edition. Among the most valuable aspects of this process are the updated distribution maps which show where sightings of live or dead mammals have been recorded, throughout the peninsula.

From the graceful gazelle and impressively powerful leopard to the Peninsula's smallest mammal, Savi's shrew which has a total length of around 8 centimetres (approx 3 inches), Arabia's mammalian fauna is full of interest. The book lists 151 species of Arabian mammals and does not include the marine forms. If you are looking for the definitive review of Arabia's mammals then this is it. Although some other excellent books on Arabian mammals do exist, this is quite simply the most comprehensive work which draws upon the greatest number of field reports and biological studies.