Deer’s in the Desert
During my recent past visits to my pipeline project site in Abu Dhabi desert ( December 2018 to March 2019 ), I was pleasantly surprised to spot and later on see quite a large number of deer’s in the desert, I was always expecting to see camels , but never expected to see deer’s , thinking of them as fragile ( my perception ) beings and not expecting them to survive in the harsh desert conditions, that has little vegetation and water.
My search on google for some history of these deer’s revealed the following , that I have given below. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_sand_gazelle )
The Arabian sand gazelle (Gazella marica, formerly Gazella subgutturosa marica) or reem (Arabic: ريم)[2] is a species of gazelle native to the Syrian and Arabian Deserts. Today it survives in the wild in small, isolated populations in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and southeastern Turkey. Small numbers may also be present in Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria. The total population of wild sand gazelles is thought to be less than 3,000. Significantly more are held in captivity, reserves, or breeding programs, perhaps more than 100,000.[1]
Until recently, the sand gazelle was considered a subspecies of the goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa). A 2010 genetic study established that it was a distinct lineage,[2] and it is now considered a separate species.[1] Further genetic analysis reported in 2012 found that the sand gazelle was closely related to two North African gazelles, Cuvier’s gazelle (Gazella cuvieri) and the rhim (Gazella leptoceros), perhaps even belonging to a single species.[3]
Glad to see that God through nature provides for every little thing in this world , whatever the condition.
Three original photos taken by me during my desert trips, could not click a good Arabian sand gazelle photo, hence posted one from the net.
