First record of the endangered Arabian Tahr Arabitragus jayakari (Thomas, 1894) in the Hatta Mountain Conservation Area, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Afra Mahmood Mohammad Ali Haji,Aisha Almurr Al Muhery,Esmat Elfaki Mohammed Elhassan,Hamad Hashim Mohammed Khalaf Albedwawi,Hassan Zain Alsharif,Jeruel Cabadonga Aguhob,Juma Abdulla Saeed Mohammad Al Omairi,Junaid N Shah,Mohamed Mustafa Eltayeb Mohamed,Obaid Mohammed Salem Mohammed Al Bedwawi

doi:10.11609/jott.4157.10.11.12561-12565

Abstract

The Arabian Tahr Arabitragus jayakari is endemic to the Hajar Mountains of Oman and the United Arab Emirates in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula and is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Lack of scientific research from areas of its occurrence has been a challenge in determining its basic ecological aspects such as current distribution range, population status, and abundance. In the present study, we report a new distribution record for the Arabian Tahr from the Hatta Mountain Conservation Area in the Dubai Emirate through camera trap images. A total of 442 images (44 events) were obtained using three camera traps on 564 trap nights between March and December 2016. About 90% of the Arabian Tahr captures were recorded between 1100 and 1600 hr, indicating diurnal activity. This new occurrence record of the Arabian Tahr from this area is considered of high significance as it will drive in more studies and incentives towards the conservation and management of the species and the area as a whole.

Highlights

Information on species distribution and diversity pattern is crucial for understanding the ecological and evolutionary determinants of spatial heterogeneity in biodiversity (Ricklefs & Schluter 1993)
Camera trapping is a non-invasive method that causes minimum disturbance to the target species. It has been widely used for inventories, of elusive mammals (Silveira et al 2003; Rovero & De Luca 2007; Tobler et al 2008a,b; Ahmed et al 2016) to study their activity patterns and habitat use (Bowkett et al 2008 ). With this background and main objective, we aimed to document the presence of the Arabian Tahr in the Hatta MCA of Dubai Emirate by using non-invasive camera trapping
Camera trapping was carried out between March and December 2016 in order to record the baseline status of biodiversity in the Hatta MCA (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

Information on species distribution and diversity pattern is crucial for understanding the ecological and evolutionary determinants of spatial heterogeneity in biodiversity (Ricklefs & Schluter 1993). Spatial congruence of species distributions has been studied in several taxa (Marquez et al 1997; Gómez-González et al 2004; Oertli et al 2005), but remains poorly understood in certain mammalian communities, especially in herbivores, in the Middle East region. The ungulates of the Arabian Peninsula region, Arabian Oryx Oryx leucoryx, Arabian Ibex Capra nubiana, and gazelles Gazella marica & G. arabica, are generally poorly known among local communities and the general public. There is, a widespread impression that they are under severe threat because of overgrazing, lack of protection, and lack of knowledge, and that the animals are fragmented into small populations

Objectives

Methods

Results