Preservation of the very rare Arabian Leopard in Tai'f - KSA

[al-Hasani]

Unfortunately true. Lose off cattle, sheep, camels, poultry…etc made people of that area during that time act against. Others were doing it as a sign of bravery, personal achievement, showing fighting skills…etc.



Oh yeah, Al-Baha and other cities now have implemented some projects to preserve whatever left of wild animals in their area.



The beautiful Arabian Gazelles. What a loss.



Thanks for brining that up bro.

@Arabian Legend

I actually decided to read the whole thread and it is was NOT a lion but some kind of big German species of a dog. It was basically nonsense that somebody wrote on this forum. Also if you look closer at the photo it is clear that it is not a lion. This is why I deleted this again. So you can remove that part of your post.

Do you know stories from elders/relatives/friends/citizens of Al-Bahah of encounters with wild lions in "recent times". I mean last 200-100 years?

Yes, at the time of Prophet Muhammad (saws) lions roamed across Hijaz and many regions of KSA. The last wild lion killed in KSA was killed in 1923.

But I meant implementation of more national parks where we could let Asiatic lions roam around there? I mean somewhat controlled instead of keeping them in captivity in zoos.

Climate is perfect and they lived there not many decades ago in the wider picture.

http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/غزال_عربي



But there are other gazelles in the wild now.

Wild gazelles are found on FARASAN ISLANDS.

Mountain gazelle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My goal is now to research on our rich wildlife and try to safe it but also try to implement/encourage people to try to protect the nature and maybe one day work to make more national parks when we implement a real tourism sector one good day.

 

[chhota bheem]

Good to know KSA has big cats,hope they will increase in numbers, all the best in what you are doing.

 

[al-Hasani]

Good to know KSA has big cats,hope they will increase in numbers, all the best in what you are doing.

Thank you!

Can you tell me how India achieved to save the Asiatic lion in Gujarat and why they have survived in Gujarat but not in other places in India? Have you been successful in trying to relocate wild lions to other parts of India?

If you can answer it would be good.



Asiatic lion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

@ranjeet maybe you can answer those questions or know about a Indian user on this forum that can. It would be great.

Or maybe @Contrarian could answer them?

How can I contact a Indian expert on this field by email or Facebook? Is there a famous Indian expert that knows about the wild Asiatic lions in Gujarat that one can contact?

 

[chhota bheem]

@al-Hasani
India acts to save Asiatic lion by moving it – but hard work has only just begun | Kavitha Rao | Environment | theguardian.com

I dont know much,but you can go through the above page and you might know why they were not able to relocate lions,but we have relocated tigers successfully.
Both lions and tigers where near extinction but active effort from the government and wild life agencies helped.
Home Page-Project Tiger

 

[al-Hasani]

@al-Hasani
India acts to save Asiatic lion by moving it – but hard work has only just begun | Kavitha Rao | Environment | theguardian.com

I dont know much,but you can go through the above page and you might know why they were not able to relocate lions,but we have relocated tigers successfully.
Both lions and tigers where near extinction but active effort from the government and wild life agencies helped.
Home Page-Project Tiger

Thank you that was great. Just what I looked for. Do you know how come wild Asiatic lions are only found in that small area of Gujarat but not in other areas of India? What is the reason for this? Climate, habitat, fauna?

 

[al-Hasani]

@Arabian Legend

Do you know stories from elders/relatives/friends/citizens of Al-Bahah of encounters with wild lions in "recent times". I mean last 200-100 years?

Yes, at the time of Prophet Muhammad (saws) lions roamed across Hijaz and many regions of KSA. The last wild lion killed in KSA was killed in 1923.

But I meant implementation of more national parks where we could let Asiatic lions roam around there? I mean somewhat controlled instead of keeping them in captivity in zoos.

Climate is perfect and they lived there not many decades ago in the wider picture.

 

[Wahhab2701]

Very few live in the wild on the Arabian Peninsula mainly in the mountainous and wild areas of Yemen, Oman and Western and Southern KSA.



View attachment 13525



Arabian leopard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The last wild lion in KSA was killed in 1923:

@Wahhab2701 that painting was made by the Arab-Indonesian Romantic painter Raden Saleh. I love his paintings.

Raden Saleh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have seen the picture long time ago when I was child but did not aware that the picture is about lion hunting in Hejaz. And I am a bit surprise to know that Raden Saleh was actually a Sayyid (descendant of ahloul bayt). So he got the best of 2 worlds, being a descendant of javanese aristocrat qnd descendant of caliph Ali. Thanks for informing this brother. See, we learn something everyday.

 

[al-Hasani]

I have seen the picture long time ago when I was child but did not aware that the picture is about lion hunting in Hejaz. And I am a bit surprise to know that Raden Saleh was actually a Sayyid (descendant of ahloul bayt). So he got the best of 2 worlds, being a descendant of javanese aristocrat qnd descendant of caliph Ali. Thanks for informing this brother. See, we learn something everyday.

You are very welcome brother. Yes, but that is due to the relations of my father's family with Indonesia like I told you in that earlier thread. So I know him and he is one of my favorite painters. I would love to acquire some of his paintings in real life but they are not cheap to say the least.

Yes, he was an Indonesian of Arab descent on his fathers side like millions of other Indonesians let alone all those with Arab ancestry down the line. As I told you then a significant potion of the Hejazi people in turn also have Indonesian ancestry. There is a special bond between those two regions which I only hope will grow much stronger.

 

[Cherokee]

Thank you that was great. Just what I looked for. Do you know how come wild Asiatic lions are only found in that small area of Gujarat but not in other areas of India? What is the reason for this? Climate, habitat, fauna?

Asiatic Lions once ranged from Turkey to bangladesh . Heavy hunting all across these countries including India brought down there numbers .

Then there was another Top predator lurking in the jungles of India , Bengal mfcuking Tiger . These tigers on an average have 16 percent larger brain than lions and are around 50 Kg heavier than african lions ( let alone asiatic ones) . Since they don't live in prides like lions , they are not known for play fighting . They simply kill their pray . The remaining lions were left to the grasslands of gir .

That is the reason even today you will see tiger reserves all across India ( 53 in total i guess ) while lions are only in Gir , gujarat .
There was a time where tigers were introduced in jungles close to gir , what happened was lions started withdrawing from the area , so Those tigers have to be located elsewhere .

Just as to give you idea of bengal tigers check this out

In tis video tiger jumps on top of elephant to attack people . Back story is it was looking for its cubs . Elephant saved those people by squaring off and backstepping . No lion can do this .

 

[al-Hasani]

@Cherokee

Yes, I know that it is due to hunting. After all the last Asiatic Lion in KSA was killed in 1923 due to hunting. Once they roamed the lands of KSA and the Arabian Peninsula in very big numbers.

Thanks for that explanation. It makes perfect sense. But that those Asiatic Lions are only surviving in that tiny piece of Gujarat (a national park) is strange if you ask me.

According to Wiki there are between 1700-1900 Bengali Tigers left in the wild in India. In what regions are they mainly found? In the Northeast near Bangladesh? What do they eat mainly of pray? I imagine that they need a lot of it in order to survive in such large numbers.

 

[Cherokee]

@Cherokee

Yes, I know that it is due to hunting. After all the last Asiatic Lion in KSA was killed in 1923 due to hunting. Once they roamed the lands of KSA and the Arabian Peninsula in very big numbers.

Thanks for that explanation. It makes perfect sense. But that those Asiatic Lions are only surviving in that tiny piece of Gujarat (a national park) is strange if you ask me.

According to Wiki there are between 1700-1900 Bengali Tigers left in the wild in India. In what regions are they mainly found? In the Northeast near Bangladesh? What do they eat mainly of pray? I imagine that they need a lot of it in order to survive in such large numbers.

Bengal tigers are Native to Areas in and near Bangladesh but due to over population in that region few hundred tigers are left there . But now thanks to PROJECT TIGER we have replenished tiger population in most of the Jungles across India . Here's one map to explain it

See how we have not tried anywhere near Gir in Gujarat because we don't want two top predators conflicting and lion population is just between 200-400 .

Tigers on an average eat 14 kg of meat . They hunt variety of deers ,boar , Gaur ( Largest bovine on the planet) and occasionally elephants as well .

Gaur is known to kill tigers and tiger is known to kill gaurs . Just to give you an idea , these are gaur

 

[Cherokee]

Also i would like to ask shouldn't entire GCC be involved in conservation ?? Less than 250 individuals are left in thousand's of kilometers range which leads to fracturing in population . As far as i know three major hubs of Arabian leopards are one in yemen , one in oman and one in Sinai ??

Meanwhile some images of Indian Leopards

Black Indian Leopards look stunning

 

[al-Hasani]

Thanks for that information. I hope that those 1700-1900 Bengali Tigers will survive and not have the same fate as the Asiatic Lions in India.

Also i would like to ask shouldn't entire GCC be involved in conservation ?? Less than 250 individuals are left in thousand's of kilometers range which leads to fracturing in population . As far as i know three major hubs of Arabian leopards are one in yemen , one in oman and one in Sinai ??

There are not any on Sinai from my knowledge?
Most in the wild are found in KSA, Yemen and Oman. In the mountains, forested and tropical areas. The only ones found in UAE are those in national parks where they have been relocated.

But I am sure that there needs to be a bigger cooperation in general when it comes to the nature across the world and on regional issues.

More photos of the Arabian Leopard:

 

[Cherokee]

Thanks for that information. I hope that those 1700-1900 Bengali Tigers will survive and not have the same fate as the Asiatic Lions in India.



There are not any on Sinai from my knowledge?
Most in the wild are found in KSA, Yemen and Oman. In the mountains, forested and tropical areas. The only ones found in UAE are those in national parks where they have been relocated.

But I am sure that there needs to be a bigger cooperation in general when it comes to the nature across the world and on regional issues.

More photos of the Arabian Leopard:

Man ,you guys should make sure you do not loose these beautiful cats . we lost one big Cat in India( Asiatic Cheetah) because we did not try enough . Learn from our mistakes .

 

[pak-marine]

beautiful animal ...hope KSA manages to preserve this gem