Sex ratios of Arabian Sand Gazelle Gazella marica Thomas, 1897 in the Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, Saudi Arabia
-
Peter Low Cunningham
and
Torsten Wronski
Abstract
The sex ratio of a population of Arabian Sand Gazelle in Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area in central western Saudi Arabia was compared to that determined from 296 skulls collected from the same area. Skulls were collected between March 2008 and March 2009 during a period of mass die-off caused by a severe drought. Most abundant were male skulls ageing between 18 and 24 months. The skulls of natural mortalities indicated an imbalanced sex ratio skewed towards males (1.39:1), compared to a sex ratio slightly skewed towards adult females (1:1.07) in the living population. Horn lengths of males and females were significantly shorter in the wild population of Mahazat as-Sayd than compared to an analogous population in captivity (King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre, KKWRC, Saudi Arabia). Possible causes for diverging sex ratio were linked to increased male mortality during the drought. Male mortalities and female biased sex ratio are discussed in the light of territoriality, predation, poor environmental conditions and limited opportunities to migrate.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Original Studies
- Resources partitioning in a fruit bat community of the southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil
- Current and potential distribution of Myotis simus (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae)
- Diurnal time budget of goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa Güldenstaedt, 1780) in Xinjiang, China
- Sex ratios of Arabian Sand Gazelle Gazella marica Thomas, 1897 in the Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, Saudi Arabia
- Influences of pine plantations on small mammal assemblages of the Patagonian forest-steppe ecotone
- Assessing mammal distribution and abundance in intricate eastern Himalayan habitats of Khangchendzonga, Sikkim, India
- Rhipidomys (Rodentia, Cricetidae) from Paraguay: noteworthy new records and identity of the Paraguayan species
- Observations of the woolly flying squirrel Eupetaurus cinereus in Pakistan
- Observations on the captive behavior of the rare Patagonian opossum Lestodelphys halli (Thomas, 1921) (Marsupialia, Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae)
- Short Notes
- Use of space by the black-eared opossum Didelphis aurita in a rural area in southeastern Brazil
- New records of bats for the state of Minas Gerais, with range extension of Eptesicus chiriquinus Thomas (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) to southeastern Brazil
- First records of mormoopid bats (Chiroptera, Mormoopidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
- Long-term adult male sociality in ring-tailed coatis (Nasua nasua)
- Approach on the genetic diversity in a Lusitanian pine vole population
Articles in the same Issue
- Original Studies
- Resources partitioning in a fruit bat community of the southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil
- Current and potential distribution of Myotis simus (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae)
- Diurnal time budget of goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa Güldenstaedt, 1780) in Xinjiang, China
- Sex ratios of Arabian Sand Gazelle Gazella marica Thomas, 1897 in the Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, Saudi Arabia
- Influences of pine plantations on small mammal assemblages of the Patagonian forest-steppe ecotone
- Assessing mammal distribution and abundance in intricate eastern Himalayan habitats of Khangchendzonga, Sikkim, India
- Rhipidomys (Rodentia, Cricetidae) from Paraguay: noteworthy new records and identity of the Paraguayan species
- Observations of the woolly flying squirrel Eupetaurus cinereus in Pakistan
- Observations on the captive behavior of the rare Patagonian opossum Lestodelphys halli (Thomas, 1921) (Marsupialia, Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae)
- Short Notes
- Use of space by the black-eared opossum Didelphis aurita in a rural area in southeastern Brazil
- New records of bats for the state of Minas Gerais, with range extension of Eptesicus chiriquinus Thomas (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) to southeastern Brazil
- First records of mormoopid bats (Chiroptera, Mormoopidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
- Long-term adult male sociality in ring-tailed coatis (Nasua nasua)
- Approach on the genetic diversity in a Lusitanian pine vole population
