Population development of re-introduced mountain gazelle in the western Empty Quarter (Uruq Bani Ma’arid Protected Area), Saudi Arabia

Summary

Mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), Vulnerable and considered only marginally suited to the arid Uruq Bani Ma'arid Protected Area at the western edge of Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter, was reintroduced there by the Saudi Wildlife Authority starting in 1996 using captive-bred stock of mixed subspecies origin from King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre, chosen partly for its distance from indigenous mountain gazelle populations. Twenty-four gazelles were released along the Tuwaiq Escarpment in January-February 1996, and after a successful first year with at least four calves born, a second cohort of 49 animals was released in January 1997, with a subset of both groups radio-collared. Radio-tracked survival reached 78% by the end of the first year, and calving rates recovered from a low of 0.33 calves per female in 1997 to 0.7 by 1999; released gazelles dispersed far more widely than a comparable reintroduction at the Ibex Reserve, with individuals moving up to 50 km and settling along over 120 km of escarpment within two years, favoring limestone plateau over sand dunes. Ground and aerial surveys through 2011 estimated the population at roughly 220 to 300 gazelles in core survey transects, though a newer dung-midden survey method suggested more than 700 gazelles may actually be present. Major difficulties included limited monitoring resources, since effort was shared with co-located sand gazelle and oryx reintroductions, and the unfenced reserve's vulnerability to illegal hunting. The project rates itself Successful, crediting the large founder group and the species' tenacity in marginal, low-rainfall habitat for sustained population growth.