Arabian Wildlife Wildlife and Environment of the United HE N THE BRI TISH EXP LO RER Wilfred Thesiger was ground under an acacia tree outsid e the fort. Thesiger recalls: W completing hi s own epic journey across the Empty 'He was a powerfully built man of about thirty with a brown Quarter in the early '1950s, as he so vividly describes in his beard . He had a strong intelligent fa ce, with steady, observant book A rnbil111 Sl1 nds, he went to stay with Sheikh Zayed, who eyes and his manner was quiet but masterful... ... He wore a lived a t that time in the AI-Ain/Buraimi oasis. His first dagger and a ca rtridge belt; his rifle lay on th e sand beside meeting w ith the ma n who was to become ruler of Abu him.' Thesiger commented that the locals held Zayed in grea t Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates took place respect for he was a true bedouin with all the loca l knowledge in humble, na tural surroundings. Zayed was sitting on the of the desert and wildlife that the word implied. Volume 3, Number I 21 Natural Emirates Arabian Wi ld li fe Thesiger and his colleagues spent a month as Z<1yed's guest and during the visit they went hunting together with fa lcons. On one occasion a falcon took off across th e sand-hills and was eventuall y discovered by Zayed and Thesiger who were on ca mel-back. After recovering the bird Zayed pOinted to some oily splashes on the ground, explaining to Thesiger that the houbara bustard squirts this secretion at an attacking falcon, temporaril y blinding the predator. Thesiger goes on to describe encOlUlter after encounter in which Zayed quietl y imparted hi s understanding of nature and his love of wildlife. The experience made a powerful impression on the British ex plorer and is bea utifully recounted in his cl assic book. In this year of triple celebra ti ons for the UAE - 25 years of federati on; 25 years of Sheikh Zayed's Presidency and 30 years of his rule over the emirate of Abu Dhabi, there has been grea t interest in retrospecti ve analysis of what the last quarter century has mea nt for the seven emirates that comprise the UA E. It is clea r from such ,;malysis that its people have benefited significantly from the efforts of a government committed to sociil l d eve lo pme nt a nd improvement of facilities in v irtually every aspect of their li ves. However, one could easil y ilI'gue thilt, given the country's Vilst oil wealth, it would have been inconceiva ble that this would not be the case. The fac t that this development has taken place in iln atmosphere of respect fo r its cultural heritage, and with il committed acknowledgement of the need to conserve its na tura l w o rld, is perha ps mo re impressive thil n the infrastructural il nd socio-economic strides which hil ve transformed the nil tion. The challenge of maintilining a billance between man and the environment has been central to Sheikh Zayed 's entire peri od of stewardship. His conviction that the deserts ca n be turned green again, as they once were before cl imate changed Above: 1-1171111 1.' Eriksell , together w itll her IlII sbtllltf ]fII S, pl/Ot og mpherlthc UA E's IInturn l ellvircm lllell t especial/II fo r the book Natural Emirates. 22 Volume 3, Number I Arabian Wild.life Natural Emirates to one of the driest on the globe, has led him to support a massive ca mpaign of afforestation and irrigation, utilizing waste water from urba n and industrial developments to make grass, crops and trees grow in place of shifting sands. The results of this sustained endeavour are pa rticularly apparent as one fli es into the UAE, hardly failing to observe from the air that vast tracts of previously arid desert are now forested - more than BO million trees having been planted during the past 25 years. On the ground, as one drives from airport to city centre, the solid greenery of tree-lined freeways reinforces an impression of lush tropical vegetation rather than arid desert, and even in the urban heartlands of Abu Dhabi and Dubai one ca n hardly fail to be impressed by the carefully cultivated parklands which have become a magnet for migrating birds and other native wildlife. But what of the natural Emirates, that land beyond city and highway, far from the sight of high-rise buildings and the noise of vehicles? Is there anything left of the Arabia that once existed, before oil was discovered and before Zayed and his The willter and spring of 1995/1996 were sOlli e of the wett est all record people decided to build a modern, developed country? Can ill the UAE . No t oll ly did heavy raill lIIake the rivers nil/wild, but it it be true that leopards still live among the mountains, or that also 110llrished a wide variety of plalll -life. the Arabian tahr, until recently thought to be extinct in the UAE, still survives in isolated 'hidden' valleys, or indeed that the elusive sea-cow or dugong still swims among its sheltered offshore islands? Just how successful has this Arabian country been at balancing the d emands of ma n against those of wildlife? Volume 3 , Number 1 23 Arabian Wildlife Nat llra l El1Iimtes, published by Trident Press as part of the UAE's Silver Jubilee celebrations, ad dresses such questions directl y in a series of well informed , beautifully illustrated chilpters on the UAE's w ildlife, written by experts in their individual fi elds. You w ill be relieved to read tha t leopards do indeed still live in the UAE, in larger numbers than were previously estima ted , but still not sufficient to ensure their future SurviVClI. Protection of the leopard has provid ed a ra ll y ing call for Cl grass-roo ts conserv atio n progra mme s peClfh eaded by the ArCl bi a n LeopClfd Trus t which has established a captive breeding pClir of leopards in the UAE a nd is working to wards creation of a reserve for their protecti on in the wild. After a carCilSS of a tahr was found near a w ater pool on Jebel H afit in 1982, it was gener Cl lly thought thClt the tahr WCl S extinct outside of O m Cl n. Thi'lt remained the view until a 1995 survey of possibl e leopard habitilts undertaken by C hris and Tilde Stuart, and orga ni zed by the Arabian Leopard Trust. The Stuarts are knowledgeable trackers and natura li sts who have honed their skills over many years of fi eld work in Afri ca, Ara bia and in other regions. Whilst clambering along a ledge in the Shimailiyyah mountains of the UAE their attention w as drawn by the sound of a falling pebble on the opposite side of the ravine. Not only did they catch sig ht of ,.-r----~~\ . ~" ~ - ')-.... _.r.>-' }. , .,. ). .~.. _ ' 1';.., '~-A " '<~ "'" Arabian Wildlife Natural Emirates an adult and young tahr, but th ey also took the first ever photographs of live tahr in the Emirates. Seen against the dark purplis h rocks, th e tahr w e re a lmost invis ible. Reproduced in Nrztllm/ Em imtcs, this picture seems to speak out from th e page. The adult tahr, facing the camera, ilppeals to us all to respect the wilderness in which it still survives. Dugongs have been hunted in this region for thousa nds of years, ilS evid enced by the presence of their skeleta I remai ns in ancient middens and at burial sites. Dugongs in th e UAE mostl y inhabit the shallow waters around the islands of Murawah and Bu Tina to the west of Abu Dhabi, but their range extends further west to the border of Qatar and beyond, and there are still occasional sightings to the east around Jebel Ali , UnU11 al-Qaiwain and Ras al-K haimah. The UAE's ri ch and extensive seagrass beds are vital to the continued survival of this sea-mammal in the Gulf region. Nrzt llml ElI1 imtes not only provides us with data on the survival of dugongs in the UAE but also backs it up with some rare photographs Natural Emirate s Arabian Wildlife of them taken during a marine survey of Abu Dhabi's offering as much informa tion on insects a nd reptiles, fo r offshore waters. example as for the more po pula r birds and m a mmals. As one turns the pages of Na tural Emira tes it is hard to be Chapters on geology and palaeontology are refreshingly unimpressed by the sheer variety of wildlife that the country written for the general reader whilst retaining their scientific supports. Despite the demands of industrial and infrastruc­ accuracy and the chapter on plantlife is compiled more with tural development, habitats have been preserved and nature a view to encourilging the amateur naturalist to explore the has been respected to a far greater ex tent than one finds in wonders of loca l fl ora than to provide a blow by blow many other countries. Whilst the mangrove has oft en been taxonomic account of individual species. regard ed as an annoying encumberance, fair game for Above Cl Jl however, this book is Cl visual celebration of Cl removal or infilling of its shall ow habitat, in the Emirates segment of Arabia's natural ""orld that has received relati vely large areas of mangrove have not only been preserved but little media attention in the past, but which clearly merits a fr esh stands are constantly being planted , creating new much greater focus in future.