‘Dhib’ & ‘Nimr’: Can Israel-Palestine’s Negev, Judaean deserts ever revive populations of world’s smallest wolf, leopard?

‘Dhib’ & ‘Nimr’: Can Israel-Palestine’s Negev, Judaean deserts ever revive populations of world’s smallest wolf, leopard?

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

• The Israel-Hamas war is impacting the iconic wildlife of the region, including the world’s smallest wolf and leopard.

Dhib (Arabian wolf) and Nimr (Arabian leopard):

• The Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs) and the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) are found across the whole of the Arabian Peninsula.Dhib and Nimr are the Arabic terms for the two animals that have featured in the culture and folklore of the region’s peoples.
• In the northern half of their range, both animals are critically endangered.
• The Negev deserts, that dominates southern Israel till the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Judaean desert which is shared by Israel and the Palestinian West Bank — were once home to both the animals.
• The Arabian leopard is extinct in its entire northern range, including all historic distribution ranges on the Sinai Peninsula, the Negev, and the Judaean Desert. They are now restricted to Oman, Yemen, and the southern part of Saudi Arabia.
• The Arabian wolf remains the sole apex predator across most of its range since the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and the near-eradication of the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr). The only known stable population is confined to the Arava Valley and Negev Desert in Israel, where legal protection is enforced and acceptance of wolves is high.
• Top carnivores have important ecosystem functions like keeping herbivore populations in check and consuming carrion.
• Challenges:
  • Unacceptability in pastoral areas.
  • Arabian wolves suppress smaller canids like jackals and foxes in the Negev and the Arava Valley.

Arabian Wolf:

• The Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs) is a subspecies of gray wolf native to the Arabian Peninsula—to the west of Bahrain, as well as Oman, southern Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. They are also found in Israel’s Negev Desert, Jordan, Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula.
• It is the smallest wolf subspecies, and a specialized xerocole (arid-adapted) animal that normally lives in smaller familial packs.
• Arabian wolves are omnivorous and opportunistic eaters; they consume small to medium-sized prey, from insects, reptiles and birds to rodents and small ungulates, such as young ibex and several species of gazelle (Arabian, goitered, Dorcas, and mountain gazelles).
• IUCN Red list: Endangered

Arabian leopard:

• The Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) is a leopard subspecies native to the Arabian Peninsula. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996 as fewer than 200 wild individuals were estimated to be alive in 2006.
• The population is severely fragmented. Subpopulations are isolated and not larger than 50 mature individuals. The population is thought to decline continuously.
• The Arabian leopard is the smallest leopard subspecies. It was tentatively affirmed as a distinct subspecies by genetic analysis of a single wild leopard from South Arabia, which appeared most closely related to the African leopard.

Source: DownToEarth