Report by Marijke Jongbloed
In June 1996 the second breeding pair of Arabian leopards in the
world became a fact. Nimrod Felix, the leopard from Yemen, mated
with a female on breeding loan from Oman three months earlier
and this resulted in an uncomplicated pregnancy. A litter was
born on 2 June, but it did not survive. The exact reason for this
is not clear. The fact that few first litters ever survive certainly
played a role, but also the weather must have been a factor: it
was very humid and unseasonably hot (44°C). While the death of
the litter was definitely a disappointment, the event proved,
nevertheless, that the two leopards were compatible and fertile
and that the female was a good mother. At the time of writing,
the pair has mated again and this time the ETA for the kittens
is end of December, which should be very favourable.
In the meantime plans are underway to send Nimrod Felix for a
visit to Oman, where he can impregnate two of the females in the
Beit al Barakat Breeding Center, while another female will come
to the UAE, hopefully to be mated with the 8-year old male that
is in a private collection. Once this is achieved, there will
be a good mix of all the various genes that are available at present.
From the wild, several reports reached the Arabian Leopard Trust
during the second ALT wildlife survey that took place in the first
three months of 1996. Local tribesmen took Moaz Sawaf and Chris
Stuart to a remote place where they said they knew leopards to
occur. Indeed spoor was found, but it was not fresh. A few days
later, however, fresh droppings were found in the same location.
Then a leopard sighting was reported in the same area by the local
tribesmen, who offered to look after the safety of the leopard.
Two months later, a leopard was sighted at Wadi Ghalila and Moaz
received a phonecall telling him that a hunting party was being
put together to kill it as several goats had been killed by the
leopard. Moaz took time off to talk to the tribesmen and after
long deliberations established that only one goat had been killed
(others having succumbed to disease). Fortunately, Moaz was able
to persuade the men to call off the hunt. When he camped out that
night, he heard the leopard roar not far away (a thank you or
a mating call?).
The tribesmen of the high Musandam mountains are quite eager to
become involved in any nature reserve that could be established
in the area, if this would provide them with jobs. They are true
mountain men and would rather spend their time up in their birthplace
than on the coast, which is the only place where they can earn
a living. The 1996 ALT survey resulted in proposals for five separate
nature reserves, two of which are in mountain areas where leopards
could be protected. Management plans for these reserves are being
drawn up and will be presented to the relevant rulers during the
winter. If all goes well, some of these reserves could be up and
running before next summer. There is strong need now for the training
of local men to become game wardens and rangers. Although adventure
and ecotourism could be a major source of income for the maintenance
of the reserves, outside funds will be necessary to set them up
and to pay personnel costs.
Local ‘Desert Rangers’ provide invaluable assistance to the National
Avian Research Center.
In an attempt to gauge the numbers and distribution of houbara
visiting the Emirates, NARC’s researchers have been working with
the ‘Desert Rangers’ from the camps of Hamra., Ashtan, Sila, Tawi,
Gamra, Wutayd, Schlef for the last two winter seasons. The Abu
Dhabi Desert Rangers are responsible for the enforcement of the
Federal Decree – Law No.9 for 1983 – which placed an Emirates’
wide ban on the hunting of gazelle, hare, dubb lizard, and wild
cow, as well as a ban on ‘ the hunting, gathering or destruction
of the eggs of wild and sea birds of various kinds including doves,
orioles and small birds’.
Commenting on the Desert Ranger’s abilities, Dr Frederic Launay,
leader of the project remarked: ‘Without the help of the Desert
Rangers, who are incredible at tracking animals and have an intimate
knowledge of the desert, we would know very little about the houbara
that visit the deserts of the UAE in the winter months.’ He went
on to say: ‘The houbara bustard is a very secretive bird which
makes the accurate surveying of numbers very difficult, but the
Desert Rangers live and work in the desert and have the amazing
ability to locate them simply by following their tracks. This
ability to read the houbara’s activities provides us with invaluable
information about such things as how many there are, which direction
the bird is heading in, and even what they have been eating.’
For the last year, the responsibility for recording the information
provided by the Desert Rangers has fallen to Rob Sheldon, a student
on placement with NARC from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.
With the help of Shadi Akran, acting as translator, Sheldon has
visited the ‘Desert Rangers’ camps requesting information on the
number and location of the houbara. Locations of houbara sighting
were recorded onto a questionnaire and converted into GPS co-ordinates.
The resulting positions were then plotted on a map of Abu Dhabi
Emirate.
Over the year, Sheldon has developed a deep respect and understanding
of the Desert Rangers.He says: ‘Many of the older rangers followed
the traditional bedouin lifestyle prior to the oil-led economic
boom of the 1970s and 1980s and have now passed on their skills
to the younger men. Although to the outsider the desert often
appears to be a featureless environment, the rangers can identify
individual trees, rocky outcrops and sand dunes and use them as
navigational landmarks. They can identify most animals living
in the desert by their tracks, they can tell the age of the tracks
and even certain individual animals.’
So far the information gathered by NARC from the ‘Desert Rangers’
has revealed that the number of wild houbara visiting the UAE
may be as low as a couple of hundred individuals. As one ‘Desert
Ranger’ commented to Sheldon: ‘About 15 years ago there were lots
of houbara in the area but the number has declined due to too
many cars and people. Houbara do not like disturbance.’
It is hoped that the National Avian Research Center, with the
help of individuals such as the ‘Desert Rangers’ will soon form
an effective conservation strategy aimed at protecting and increasing
the number of houbara visiting the UAE in the winter months.
Pinatubo eruption damages Red Sea coral
Studies carried out in the northern Red Sea have shown that the
huge increase in eutrophication in parts of the northern Red Sea
in 1992 and the subsequent demise of large areas of coral was
directly attributable to the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in
the Philippines.
The volcanic eruption , amongst the largest this century, produced
over 20 milion tonnes of volcanic dust which blocked out solar
radiation , lowering surface temperatures across the globe. Concomitant
surface cooling of the Red Sea increased the depth of vertical
mixing which in turn transported more nutrients than usual to
the surface waters. This nutrient enrichment resulted in a massive
incease in algal and phytoplankton blooms. Researchers found that
at its peak the algal mat was more than 15 cms thick, completely
interfering with water flow over the corals and therefore cutting
off their food supply. It seems that over 70 per cent of corals
were smothered in some areas.
The phenomenon whereby temperatures drop after a major volcanic
eruption is well documented from the Middle East.
13-14 January 1996
Report by Fred Launay
The IUCN Species Survival Commission has established a Houbara
Bustard Working Group to assist countries in developing the necessary
international cooperation.
The first meeting of the Working Group was held in Muscat, Sultanate
of Oman on the 13-14 of January 1996. Around 50 delegates representing
Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, United Arab
Emirates, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazhakhakhstan, India, Afghanistan,
as well as representatives of IUCN and the Bonn Convention Secretariat,
attended the meeting.
During this meeting the need for more cooperative research and
collaboration concerning the Asian population of houbara bustard
was stressed. In order to encourage and coordinate technical and
research aspects of the Working Group it was decided to appoint
a Secretariat. The Working Group will operate under the auspices
of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the Secretariat will
be the National Avian Research Center in Abu Dhabi. The goals
of the group are to promote and to implement a network of researchers
working on all aspects of the bioloby of the houbra bustard, and
primarily the Asian subspecies.
Under the auspices of IUCN, NARC will encourage and coordinate
research on houbara bustard to provide international conservation
bodies with relevant scientific information so that they can implement
appropriate conservation measures to secure the future of the
houbara bustard.
International Conference on Biology of Coastal Environments (ICBCE 97)
To be held from 6-9 April 1997 in Bahrain.
The University of Bahrain, College of Science, Department of Biology
is hosting a conference on the biology of coastal environments
from 6-9 April 1997 at which more than 100 participants from all
over the world are expected to attend. The meeting is expected
to provide a broad forum for marine biologists and related scientists
from all over the world to communicate and discuss many aspects
of the coastal environment. Topics within the following themes
will be discussed in plenary lectures, oral presentations and
poster displays:
* Aquaculture and Fisheries
* Coral Reefs
* Intertidal Zone
* Mangrove
* Pollution
* Supralittoral Zone
The following was picked off MARMAM, the marine mammal bulletin
board on the World Wide Web for your amusement!
“I am absolutely not making this incident up; in fact I have it
all on videotape. The tape is from a local TV news show in Oregon,
which sent a reporter out to cover the removal of a 45-foot, eight-ton
dead whale that washed up on the beach. The responsibility for
getting rid of the carcass was placed on the Oregon State Highway
Division, apparently on the theory that highways and whales are
very similar in the sense of both being large objects.
“So anyway, the highway engineers hit on a plan (remember, I am
not making this up) of blowing up the whale with dynamite. The
thinking here was that the whale would be blown into small pieces,
which would be eaten by seagulls, and that would be that. A textbook
whale removal.
“So, they moved the spectators back up the beach, put a half-ton
of dynamite next to the whale and set it off. I am probably guilty
of understatement when I say that what follows, on video tape,
is the most wonderful event in the history of the universe. First
you see the whale carcass disappear in a huge blast of smoke and
flame. Then you hear the happy spectators shouting “Yayy!” and
“Whee!”.
“Then, suddenly, the crowd’s tone changes.
“You hear a new sound like ‘Splud!’. You hear a woman’s voice
shouting, ‘Here come pieces of …. MY GOD!’ Something smears
the camera lens.
“Later the reporter explains, ‘The humour of the entire situation
suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale
blubber fell everywhere.’ One piece caved in the roof of a car
parked more than a quarter mile away. Remaining on the beach were
several rotting whale sectors the size of condominium units. There
were no signs of seagulls, who had, no doubt, permanently relocated
in Brazil. This is a very sobering videotape. Here at the Institute
we watch it often, especially at parties.
“But this is no time for gaiety. This is a time to get hold of
the folks at the Oregon State Highway Division and ask them, when
they get done cleaning up the beaches, to give us an estimate
on the US Capitol.”
The Middle East Falcon Research Group
The Middle East Falcon Research Group (MEFRG), is a unique organization
representing a common forum for the exchange of information and
the co-ordination of collaborative programmes between experts
involved and concerned with falcons and falconry in the Middle
East.
Towards the end of 1995 the MEFRG held a historic three day ‘Specialist
Workshop’ in Abu Dhabi city, sponsored by the National Avian Research
Center (NARC), whose Head of Veterinary Science, Dr Jaime Samour,
is Chairman of the group. Around 50 experts, including falconers,
avian veterinarians, raptor biologists and conservationists, attended
the workship from ten different countries. Four main subject areas
were covered in the workshop; falcon medicine, saker falcon taxonomy,
saker falcon research and conservation and public awareness of
falcons and falconry.
The main focus of the MEFRG’s Specialist Workshop was the saker
falcon, Falco cherrug, which is the most popular falcon used by
Arab falconers in the Middle East. Arab falconers have been pursuing
falconry for almost 3000 years. In the past, falcons were used
to catch quarry, such as the houbara bustard, (Chalmydotis undulata
macqueeni) to supplement their diet. Today falconry is pursued
as a traditional sport. It is believed by the group that with
sound research, care, understanding, respect and good sustainable
management of falcon species, quarry species and the habitats
used in Arab falconry, there is no reason why Arab falconry should
not continue. With sound management, Arab falconry can have beneficial
effects for falconers, wildlife, and local people in the countries
where hunting is conducted.
Recommendations for action
As a result of the presentations and discussions at the workshop,
the following recommendations for action wree made by the group:
Health and diseases of falcons
*The Veterinary Scientists will collaborate in surveys to identify
the main causes of sickness and death of falcons and continue
the collection of baseline biomedical data. In addition, the vets
will promote the use of preventive medicine and better husbandry
and management of captive falcons. There are plans to conduct
studies on the effects and types of stress in captive falcons.
The classification of the saker falcon
* As it is still not clear as to exactly how the saker falcon should
be classified in relation to other falcons, field biologists and
veterinarians agreed to continue to collect blood samples from
different forms of live falcons for further genetic studies. In
addition, researchers will collect skeletons, skins and photographs
of saker falcons so that their genetic make-up can be related
to physical appearance. An understanding of the classification
of the saker falcon is essential when conservation measures are
discussed in the future.
Monitoring by field biologists
* As it is important that the status of the saker falcon is known
in the wild, it was agreed to try and establish contact with other
field biologists who are monitoring saker populations, so that
information can be exchanged.
Public awareness
* It was agreed that literature and videos for falconers should
be produced. These projects will be supported by the National
Avian Research Center’s Public Relations Department.
Public falcon hospital
*As surveys of falconers have shown, there is a need for the creation
of more falcon hospitals in the Middle East. The MEFRG agreed
to conduct feasibility studies for a falcon hospital in Abu Dhabi
Emirate. It was suggested that a public awareness centre could
be attached to this hospital.
Arab Falconer’s Association
*It was agreed that the MEFRG would encourage the establishment
of an ‘Arab Falconer’s Association’ which will be run by Arab
falconers for Arab falconers. The MEFRG would provide support
and assistance to this Association.