The Desert Ibex: Life history, ecology and behaviour
of the Nubian ibex in Saudi Arabia.
by Khushal Habibi, co-published by NCWCD & Immel Publishing.
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.
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.