Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia

Alcelaphus buselaphus ssp. buselaphus (Pallas)

North African Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus ssp. buselaphus)  

The North African Hartebeest [which is a monotypic species in my opinion] was once widely distributed all over northern Africa, including Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Libya, and Morocco, and occurred probably also in Palestine and some parts of Saudi Arabia.  

The animal reached a shoulder height of up to 1,5 m.  

The North African Hartebeest was already well known to the ancient Egyptians and the Romans and can be found depicted Roman mosaics.  

The species begun to disappear during the second half of the 19th century – due to direct hunting, especially during the French conquest of Algeria between 1830 and 1847, when thousands of the antelopes were killed by French soldiers just for amusement.  

The last known individual was shot in the year 1925 in Morocco.  

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Yet, the species may have survived in the wild for a longer time than previously known – some bones, found 1998 in the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt inside of an abandoned hyena burrow could be dated to about 1960.  

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References:  

[1] A. J. Mills: Report presented to the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt, on the 2000 Season of the Dakhleh Oasis Projekt. Dakhleh Oasis Project SCA Report: 1999/2000 Season  

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Depiction from: ‘P. L. Sclater; O. Thomas: The Book of Antelopes. London: R. H. Porter 1894-1900’  

(not in copyright) 

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edited: 23.09.2017

Gazella saudiya Carruthers & Schwarz

Saudi Gazelle (Gazella saudiya)  

The Saudi Gazelle, described in 1935, was native to the Arabian Peninsula, where it inhabited sandy acacia plains.

The species disappeared due to excessive hunting and was declared extinct in the wild in 1980 when it very probably was already globally extinct, because all captive individuals were subsequently shown to represent hybrids or different species. 

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edited: 18.10.2020

Struthio camelus ssp. syriacus Rothschild

Arabian Ostrich (Struthio camelus ssp. syriacus)  

The Ostrich is the largest living bird, it produces the largest eggs of any living bird, which, on the other hand are the smallest of any eggs when compared to adult birds.  

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The Arabian Ostrich was a subspecies that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula and parts of the Middle East region, it was described in 1919.  

The Arabian form was almost similar to the North African Ostrich (Struthio camelus ssp. camelus L.), but was slightly smaller, furthermore the females are said to have been somewhat lighter colored than those of the North African form.  

The Arabian Ostrich was heavily hunted, a fate that is shared with many other large birds like bustards, in the end it was hunted to extinction.  

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In recent times North African Ostriches were introduced to Arabia and Israel, to replace the extinct Arabian form.  

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edited: 20.03.2018