CONSERVATION OF ARABIAN GAZELLES - Nwrc.gov.sa

measures for their protection. Three basic questions about the populations therefore needed to be
answered: Where What and How many (i.e. where are gazelle located, what taxon do they belong
to, and how many of them are there). The survey zone covered the Asir / Sarawat mountains and
Tihama coastal plain, from Taif and Jeddah southwards to the border with Yemen. This area is
approximately 300,000 \un' in extent (roughly the same size as Italy), and lies between latitudes
16.00 and 22.oooN, and longitudes 39.00 and 45.oo o E.
Methods
The limited timetable of six months available for the survey was obviously insufficient to allow a
systematic coverage of such a large area. Instead, attention was focused on those areas from which
gazelles had previously been reported. A great deal of information on gazelle distribution in the
survey zone was obtained through discussion with the staff and researchers of the National
Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD), the National Wildlife Research
Center (NWRC), the King Khalid Wildlife Research Center (KKWRC), and by a literature search of
scientific and technical reports. A total of 38 recent (i.e. from 1985 - 1992) reliable observations of
gazelle or their signs (tracks, faeces, bedding sites, corpses, etc.) were identified. These were located
in four main areas: Qilwah; AI Aqiq; Mahkshush; and scattered observations in the Tihama coastal
plain from AI Lith south to Jizan.
In addition, around 10 areas were identified as potentially harbouring gazelle, based on
communications recei ved by the NCWCD from local people in response to appeals for information
on wildlife distribution. Every effort was made during the survey to visit all the areas identified by
the methods above. together with all new areas to which we became alerted during the course of
fieldwork .
On most field trips an Arabic-speaking biologist / interpreter was provided by NCWCD,
which enabled standardized interviews to be conducted with local residents in each survey area. Data
obtained from these included the past and current distribution of gazelle, the taxon to which they
belonged (as identified from photos and / or the wildlife poster produced by NCWCD), popUlation
estimates, and information on other wildlife species present. In addition, local opinion on the levels
of illegal hunting and reasons for inferred population trends was canvassed - these data are analyzed
and discussed by Magin and Greth (1994).
Contact with the relevant civil authorities was extremely important to the success of this
project. During field trips, courtesy calls were always paid to the local Emarah (the headquarters of
an Emirate) and frequently valuable help (information, guides, extra vehicles) was obtained from the
Emirs and their staff. The guides obtained from the Emarahs proved particularly useful at putting
local people at ease - since although hospitable the Bedu are by nature wary of strangers - thus
persuading them to help answer our questions.
Each ground survey trip was undertaken with a local guide, who took us on foot and by car to
the areas where he knew or suspected gazelle were present. Gazelle observations (visual sightings,
presence of tracks or faeces, discovery of skulls or corpses) were recorded on standardized
observation forms in the field, and were later entered into a Microsoft Word computer database
which will be continued and updated by future workers. The database was also converted to a GIS
format, enabling distribution maps to be output and compared with other species. Amongst the data
noted for each observation were the date, place name, geographical co-ordinates (recorded using a
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