Adaptation, survival and challenges of released endemic Farasan mountain gazelles on Farasan Islands, Southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Summary

The Farasan mountain gazelle, known since specimens were first collected in 1825, survives at unusually high density on Saudi Arabia's Farasan Islands in the southern Red Sea, an isolated archipelago whose gazelles are genetically distinct from mainland populations and were possibly introduced from the mainland long ago. A first formal survey in 1988 found the population already established, and repeated surveys since, using road-strip counts, footprint counts and camera trapping, have shown it holding steady at around 700 or more animals, the largest free-ranging population of Arabian mountain gazelle anywhere, on islands where hunting, habitat loss and livestock competition have devastated gazelles elsewhere. A 2017 census estimated roughly 800 individuals on the main island of Farasan Kabir alone, at a density of about 1.75 gazelles per square kilometre, even though the islands have no permanent surface water, receive only 50 to 100 mm of rain a year, and host a growing human population that is steadily fragmenting gazelle habitat into small pockets like Wadi Matar and Sier. The Saudi Wildlife Authority now plans to capture gazelles from Farasan Kabir to restock smaller islands such as As Saqid and Dumsuk, where the species has been hunted out, and to start a captive-breeding program at King Khalid Wildlife Research Center to support future releases. The project rates its record on Farasan a failure by strict criteria, given continuing habitat loss, illegal hunting and the absence of a formal species management plan, despite the population's evident resilience.