Mountain gazelle

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Mountain gazelle [1]
Gazella gazella.jpg
Mountain gazelle (male)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Antilopinae
Tribe: Antilopini
Genus: Gazella
Species:
G. gazella
Binomial name
Gazella gazella
(Pallas, 1766)

The mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), also called the true gazelle, the Israeli gazelle, or the Palestine mountain gazelle, [3] [4] [5] is a species of gazelle that is widely but unevenly distributed. [6]

Contents

Approximately 6,000 are left in the wild as of 2024. [7] [8] [9] The mountain gazelle is protected under Israeli law, with Israel being the last major sanctuary of the species in the Levant. [7]

Byzantine-era mosaic of gazelle in Caesarea Maritima tmvnh 1108.jpg
Byzantine-era mosaic of gazelle in Caesarea Maritima

Description

Both sexes of the mountain gazelle have horns. Males have significantly larger horns with rings around them. Females also have horns, but they are thinner, smoother and shorter. Along with the horns, mountain gazelle are also sexually dimorphic in size, with males being larger than females. A mature male can range from 17 to 29.5 kg, while females are 16–25 kg in weight. [10] Mountain gazelle can reach running speeds of up to 80 km/h (50 mph). [11]

Population and range

Mountain gazelle were historically distributed across the Levant. Currently they are most abundant in Israel, and are also present in the West Bank in Palestine, the Golan Heights, and Turkey. [8] [12] Small, isolated populations are also found in parts of Jordan, [13] the Gaza Strip, [14] and may be present (though unlikely) in Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria outside of the Golan Heights. [2]

The mountain gazelle is protected as an endangered species under Israeli law, with Israel described as "the last stronghold" of the species in the Levant. [7]

The most recent population estimates and locations by country are:

CountryPopulationDetails
Israel, Palestinian Territories and the Golan Heights5,000In the early 20th Century, unregulated hunting with firearms decimated the region's mountain gazelle population. By 1948, the population was approximately 500 individuals. With protection from Israel's 1955 Wildlife Law, the spread of agriculture, and the initial removal of predators, the population grew to approximately 10,000 individuals by the 1980s. [8]

In the mid-1980s, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease killed about 3,500 gazelles. Combined with the return of predators, poaching, vehicle accidents, and other causes, the population declined to approximately 3,000 by 2001. [8]

As of 2020, Israel's Nature and Parks Authority and other researchers have recorded a slow recovery, with approximately 5,000 gazelles across the country. One population of around 3,000 inhabits the Naftali, Yavniel, Ramot Yissachar, and Gilboa Mountains; the eastern Galilee, and the Golan Heights. Another population of about 850 lives in the Judean Hills and Jerusalem area. A series of smaller populations live across the Mediterranean region of Israel and the West Bank, as well as near the Dead Sea. [8] They have been occasionally seen in the Gaza Strip. [14]

JordanPresent; number unknownA small number of mountain gazelles have been observed near the Yarmouk and Jordan Rivers, though the population has been in decline for decades and the last confirmed sighting was in 2015. [13]
Turkey1,140Turkey's mountain gazelle population lives in the Hatay province on the border with Syria. They have grown in number from 150 in 2009, to over 1,140 by 2020. [9] [12]

Habitat

Gazelle have adapted to live in dry, arid conditions. [2] A large amount of their moisture needs are obtained through the vegetation they consume, though they cannot go very long without water. They spend most of their time at the flat tops and crests of mountains, hills, and valleys. Adapting to an annual average temperature of 21-23 °C, gazelles prefer to bed on breezy, elevated areas to avoid the heat of the day. Around dawn and dusk, these antelope will be found cautiously traversing the hills to eat in light forests, fields, or rocky plateaus. [10] Given their preference for elevation, it seems they are less adapted to hot, dry conditions than other ungulates, like the Dorcas gazelle; this diminutive antelope appears to have outcompeted the mountain gazelle throughout some of its range in the late Holocene era, during a period of climatic warming.

Ecology

The mountain gazelle is a crepuscular species; they are awake most of the day and sleep most of the night, but generally are always active in the early morning hours and around sunset. They are also very territorial within their herds, and typically stay in groups of three to eight individuals. There are two main herd-types in the mountain gazelle community, namely mother/baby “maternity” herds and bachelor male herds; older, solitary males patrol and stake out territories, as well. [10]

Survival and reproduction

In the wild, mountain gazelle rarely survive past the age of eight, but can live up to 15 years in captivity with adequate care. By 12 months, a female gazelle can begin breeding. [15] For males, 18 months is when they will start breeding. [10] Being polygamous, [15] and not spending their lives with only one partner, the mountain gazelle typical breeding season is during the early winter months. Females will give birth to one offspring per year, mostly around the months of April and May. [10] A few days prior to giving birth, the mother will leave her herd for a time, and live in solitude. Upon its birth, the newborn is especially vulnerable to predation. For up to two months, the mother and her offspring will stay by themselves, the mother keeping her baby well-hidden in vegetation while she forages. The baby will not typically accompany its mother to graze for several weeks, relying solely on camouflage and lying perfectly still to avoid detection by carnivores. Upon her return, the mother watches out diligently for threats. Some predators include golden eagles, feral dogs, foxes, golden jackals, Arabian wolves and, in some areas, Arabian and Anatolian leopards. [16] While young males will stay with their mother for only six months before departing to a herd of young males, young females will sometimes join their mother in the females' herd. [10]

Food

Grasses and shrubs are the gazelle's most frequent source of food, with grazing being their preferred method of foraging. They are known to browse on low-hanging branches and young shoots as well, especially when their range encompasses that of the acacia tree. They can survive for long periods of time without a water source. Instead, they acquire water from succulent plants and dew droplets. [10]

History

The mountain gazelle underwent a series of size changes during the late Pleistocene, being smallest during the early and middle Epipalaeolithic, and reaching their largest size in the early Late Epipalaeolithic. They then slightly shrunk before stabilizing in size, in the middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic. In the early and late Natufian, human impacts (such as hunting and living in more permanent settlements) may have driven gazelle numbers down enough so as to provide more food to each animal, thus increasing average body size. Later, the greater stability of food and water from agriculture and the avoidance of humans and livestock by gazelles may have similarly reduced population size and intraspecific competition for the gazelles and allow individual animals to grow larger on average. [17]

In 1985, a large population of mountain gazelles built up through game conservation in two Israeli reserves, in the southern Golan Heights and Ramat Yissachar, was decimated by foot and mouth disease. To prevent such occurrences, a plan was drawn up to stabilize the female population at 1,000 in the Golan and 700 in Ramat Yissachar. [18] Since this time, the population in Israel has slowly but steadily recovered to approximately 5,000. [8]

In April 2024, an Israeli mountain gazelle, with six legs (with polymelia disorder) was sighted along the Nahal Habesor riverbed. [19]

Threats and conservation

Mountain gazelles were hunted for food, however, in 1955 hunting mountain gazelles became illegal in Israel. A 2019 estimate found there are likely 300-1300 gazelles poached annually. [8]

As the mountain gazelle's habitat has become a more urban area of the world, there are numerous threats that to the population. Habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, and collisions with cars are all anthropogenic threats to the gazelles. [8] In areas with high human disturbance, gazelles tend to face predation from feral dogs causing the population recruitment rate to be low. Golden jackals are a historic predator of the gazelles, and a study of golden jackal diets in Park Britannia, central Israel found ungulates made up 70% of the jackal's diet, of which 14% of the ungulate biomass was gazelle. [20] Gazelles may also be more susceptible to predation from golden jackals and wild boar in areas where cattle grazing is used to reduce fire risk. [21]

Ongoing conservation efforts including protecting existing populations and reestablishing gazelle populations. In 2008, the Supreme Court of Israel overturned the approval of a housing development in critical habitat where Gazella gazella gazella were listed as a petitioner on the supreme court case. [22] Additional research on the mountain gazelle and its close relatives the Dorcas gazelle and acacia gazelle are allowing for forensic identification of the gazelles to aide wildlife forensic scientists and law enforcement to enforce wildlife protection laws. [23] Twelve mountain gazelles were released in Gazelle valley, Jerusalem where the population has rebounded from three to about 80 individuals in a 25 hectare fenced off portion of the park where they are protected from predators and car collisions. [24]

The West Bank Segregation Wall, which was built by Israel between 2000 and 2005, poses a great ecological conundrum at it separates populations of many indigenous species on both sides. The Mountain Gazelle is one of these. [8]

Subspecies

Historically, some others such as the Cuvier's gazelle (G. cuvieri) were included as a subspecies, [25] but recent authorities consistently treat them as separate species. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antelope</span> Term referring to an even-toed ruminant

The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do not form a monophyletic group, as some antelopes are more closely related to other bovid groups, like bovines, goats, and sheep, than to other antelopes.

<i>Oryx</i> Genus of mammals (large antelopes)

Oryx is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight. The exception is the scimitar oryx, which lacks dark markings on the legs, only has faint dark markings on the head, has an ochre neck, and has horns that are clearly decurved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirola</span> Species of antelope

The hirola, also called the Hunter's hartebeest or Hunter's antelope, is a critically endangered antelope species found as of now, only in Kenya along the border of Somalia. It was first described by the big game hunter and zoologist H.C.V. Hunter in 1888. It is the only living member of the genus Beatragus, though other species are known from the fossil record. The global hirola population is estimated at 300–500 animals and there are none in captivity. According to a document produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature "the loss of the hirola would be the first extinction of a mammalian genus on mainland Africa in modern human history".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartebeest</span> Grassland antelope

The hartebeest, also known as kongoni or kaama, is an African antelope. It is the only member of the genus Alcelaphus. Eight subspecies have been described, including two sometimes considered to be independent species. A large antelope, the hartebeest stands just over 1 m at the shoulder, and has a typical head-and-body length of 200 to 250 cm. The weight ranges from 100 to 200 kg. It has a particularly elongated forehead and oddly-shaped horns, a short neck, and pointed ears. Its legs, which often have black markings, are unusually long. The coat is generally short and shiny. Coat colour varies by the subspecies, from the sandy brown of the western hartebeest to the chocolate brown of the Swayne's hartebeest. Both sexes of all subspecies have horns, with those of females being more slender. Horns can reach lengths of 45–70 cm (18–28 in). Apart from its long face, the large chest and the sharply sloping back differentiate the hartebeest from other antelopes. A conspicuous hump over the shoulders is due to the long dorsal processes of the vertebrae in this region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackbuck</span> Antelope native to India and Nepal

The blackbuck, also known as the Indian antelope, is a medium-sized antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources. It stands up to 74 to 84 cm high at the shoulder. Males weigh 20–57 kg (44–126 lb), with an average of 38 kg (84 lb). Females are lighter, weighing 20–33 kg (44–73 lb) or 27 kg (60 lb) on average. Males have 35–75 cm (14–30 in) long corkscrew horns, and females occasionally develop horns, as well. The white fur on the chin and around the eyes is in sharp contrast with the black stripes on the face. Both sexes' coats feature a two-tone colouration; in males, the majority of the body is dark brown to black, with white circles around the eyes, white ears and tail, and the belly, lower jaw, and inner legs also white. Females and juveniles are yellowish-fawn to tan and display the same white areas, only with more of a beige tone than the males. Females also feature a more pronounced horizontal white side-stripe, starting around the shoulder and ending at the rump. The blackbuck is the sole living member of the genus Antilope and was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorcas gazelle</span> Species of mammal

The dorcas gazelle, also known as the ariel gazelle, is a small and common gazelle. The dorcas gazelle stands about 55–65 cm at the shoulder, with a head and body length of 90–110 cm and a weight of 15–20 kg. The numerous subspecies survive on vegetation in grassland, steppe, wadis, mountain desert and in semidesert climates of Africa and Arabia. About 35,000–40,000 exist in the wild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomson's gazelle</span> Species of gazelle

Thomson's gazelle is one of the best known species of gazelles. It is named after explorer Joseph Thomson and is sometimes referred to as a "tommie". It is considered by some to be a subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle and was formerly considered a member of the genus Gazella within the subgenus Eudorcas, before Eudorcas was elevated to genus status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gemsbok</span> Species of mammal

The gemsbok, or South African oryx, is a large antelope in the genus Oryx. It is endemic to the dry and barren regions of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, mainly inhabiting the Kalahari and Namib Deserts, areas in which it is supremely adapted for survival. Previously, some sources classified the related East African oryx, or beisa oryx, as a subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinkara</span> Species of mammal

The chinkara, also known as the Indian gazelle, is a gazelle species native to India, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuvier's gazelle</span> Species of mammal

Cuvier's gazelle is a species of gazelle native to Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, and Tunisia. It is also known as the edmi. It is one of the darkest gazelle species, possibly an adaptation to its partial woodland habitat. It is sometimes placed into the genus Trachelocele together with the goitered gazelles and the rhim gazelles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dama gazelle</span> Species of mammal

The dama gazelle, also known as the addra gazelle or mhorr gazelle, is a species of gazelle. It lives in Africa, in the Sahara desert and the Sahel. A critically endangered species, it has disappeared from most of its former range due to overhunting and habitat loss, and natural populations only remain in Chad, Mali, and Niger. Its habitat includes grassland, shrubland, semi-deserts, open savanna and mountain plateaus. Its diet includes shrubs, herbs, grasses, leaves, shoots, and fruit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-fronted gazelle</span> Species of mammal

The red-fronted gazelle is widely but unevenly distributed gazelle across the middle of Africa from Senegal to northeastern Ethiopia. It is mainly resident in the Sahel zone, a narrow cross-Africa band south of the Sahara, where it prefers arid grasslands, wooded savannas and shrubby steppes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arabian gazelle</span> Species of mammal

The Arabian gazelle(Gazella arabica) is a species of gazelle from the Arabian Peninsula. There are approximately 5,000 - 7,000 mature individuals in the wild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mongolian gazelle</span> Species of mammal

The Mongolian gazelle, or dzeren, is a medium-sized antelope native to the semiarid Central Asian steppes of Mongolia, southern Siberia and northern China. The name dzeren is the Russian spelling and pronunciation of the Mongolian word zeer, or the Buryat zeeren.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Przewalski's gazelle</span> Species of mammal

Przewalski's gazelle is a member of the family Bovidae, and in the wild, is found only in China. Once widespread, its range has declined to six populations near Qinghai Lake. The gazelle was named after Nikolai Przhevalsky, a Russian explorer who collected a specimen and brought it back to St. Petersburg in 1875.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant's gazelle</span> Species of mammal

Grant's gazelle is a relatively large species of gazelle antelope, distributed from northern Tanzania to South Sudan and Ethiopia, and from the Kenyan coast to Lake Victoria. Its Swahili name is swala granti. It was named for a 19th-century British explorer, James Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gazelle</span> Genus of mammals

A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus Gazella. There are also seven species included in two further genera; Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera of Gazella. A third former subgenus, Procapra, includes three living species of Asian gazelles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persian fallow deer</span> Species of deer

The Persian fallow deer is a deer species once native to all of the Middle East, but currently only living in Iran and Israel. It was reintroduced in Israel. It has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2008. After a captive breeding program, the population has rebounded from only a handful of deer in the 1960s to over a thousand individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mongalla gazelle</span> Species of mammal

The Mongalla gazelle is a species of gazelle found in the floodplain and savanna of South Sudan. It was first described by British zoologist Walter Rothschild in 1903. The taxonomic status of the Mongalla gazelle is widely disputed. While some authorities consider it a full-fledged monotypic species in the genus Eudorcas, it is often considered a subspecies of Thomson's gazelle, while other authorities regard it as subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heuglin's gazelle</span> Species of mammal

Heuglin's gazelle, also known as the Eritrean gazelle, is a species of gazelle found east of the Nile River in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. It was considered a subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle or conspecific with Thomson's gazelle and Mongalla gazelle by some authors in the past. This small gazelle stands nearly 67 cm (26 in) at the shoulder and weighs between 15 and 35 kg. The coat is dark reddish brown with a dark reddish stripe on the flanks, except for the underparts and the rump which are white. Horns, present in both sexes, measure 15 to 35 cm in length.

References

  1. ↑ Grubb, P. (2005). "Gazella gazella". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 637–722. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  2. 1 2 3 IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2017). "Gazella gazella". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T8989A50186574. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T8989A50186574.en . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  3. ↑ Castelló, AvJosé (2016). Bovids of the World: Antelopes, Gazelles, Cattle, Goats, Sheep, and Relatives. Princeton University Press. p. 129. ISBN   978-1400880652 . Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  4. ↑ Mallon, David; Kingswood, Steven (2001). Antelopes: North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. IUCN. p. 8 & 100. ISBN   2831705940 . Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  5. ↑ "Palestine mountain gazelle now endangered, say scientists". The Guardian. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  6. ↑ "The story of gazelles in Jerusalem and what I want for them… – Kaitholil.com" . Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  7. 1 2 3 Staff, TOI (8 April 2024). "Six-legged gazelle born with rare genetic defect spotted in Israel's south".
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Yom-Tov, Yoram; Balaban, Amir; Hadad, Ezra; Weil, Gilad; Roll, Uri (September 2021). "The plight of the Endangered mountain gazelle Gazella gazella". Oryx. 55 (5): 771–778. doi: 10.1017/S003060531900108X . ISSN   0030-6053.
  9. 1 2 SABAH, DAILY (2021-01-15). "Vulnerable mountain gazelle population continues to grow in southern Turkey's Hatay". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lee, Kari. "Gazella gazella mountain gazelle". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  11. ↑ Lee, K. "Gazella gazella". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  12. 1 2 Çoğal, Muhsin; Sözen, Mustafa (2017-02-07). "The status and distribution of Gazella gazella (Artiodactyla: Mammalia), and other mammals of the Hatay province in southern Turkey". Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution. 63 (2): 44–49. doi:10.1163/22244662-06301003. ISSN   2224-4662.
  13. 1 2 Eid, Ehab; Mallon, David (2021-08-27). "Wild ungulates in Jordan: past, present, and forthcoming opportunities". Journal of Threatened Taxa. 13 (9): 19338–19351. doi: 10.11609/jott.6811.13.9.19338-19351 . ISSN   0974-7907.
  14. 1 2 Abd Rabou, A. N. (2019). The mammalian, reptilian and amphibian fauna of Al-Mawasi ecosystem, south-western Gaza Strip-Palestine. Agricultural Research & Technology: Open Access Journal, 23(1), 00301-00314.
  15. 1 2 Baharav, Dan (January 1974). "NOTES ON THE POPULATION STRUCTURE AND BIOMASS OF THE MOUNTAIN GAZELLE, GAZELLA GAZELLA GAZELLA". Israel Journal of Zoology. 23 (1): 39–44. doi:10.1080/00212210.1974.10688395 (inactive 31 January 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
  16. ↑ "Mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella)". Wildscreen Arkive. Archived from the original on 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  17. ↑ Munro, Natalie D.; Lebenzon, Roxanne; Sapir-Hen, Lidar (2022-08-31). "Revisiting Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) body size change in the southern Levant: A case for anthropogenic impact". PLOS ONE. 17 (8): e0273024. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1773024M. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273024 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   9432756 . PMID   36044411.
  18. ↑ Mountain gazelle management in northern Israel in relation to wildlife disease control. (PDF) . oie.int.
  19. ↑ "Mountain gazelle". www.jerusalemzoo.org.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  20. ↑ Borkowski, Jakub; Zalewski, Andrzej; Manor, Regev (April 2011). "Diet Composition of Golden Jackals in Israel". Annales Zoologici Fennici. 48 (2): 108–118. doi:10.5735/086.048.0203. ISSN   0003-455X.
  21. ↑ Shamoon, Hila; Dayan, Tamar; Saltz, David (November 2017). "Cattle grazing effects on mountain gazelles in Mediterranean natural landscapes: Indirect Grazing Effects on Gazelles". The Journal of Wildlife Management. 81 (8): 1351–1362. doi:10.1002/jwmg.21323.
  22. ↑ Adam, Rachelle (2016). "Finding Safe Passage through a Wave of Extinctions: Israel's Endangered Mountain Gazelle". Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy. 19 (2): 136–158. doi:10.1080/13880292.2016.1167472. S2CID   87840827.
  23. ↑ Hadas, L.; Hermon, D.; Bar-Gal, G. K. (2016). "Before they are gone - improving gazelle protection using wildlife forensic genetics". Forensic Science International. Genetics. 24: 51–54. doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2016.05.018. PMID   27294679.
  24. ↑ Matthieussent, Delphine. "Endangered gazelles spring back in Jerusalem park". phys.org. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  25. ↑ ADW: Gazella gazella: INFORMATION. Animaldiversity.org. Retrieved on 2015-09-25.
  26. ↑ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2016). "Gazella cuvieri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T8967A50186003. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T8967A50186003.en . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
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