STILL as death and fangs gleaming in the crepuscular evening light, the beige reticulated predator lay with seemingly geological patience motionless against the ground.
Stepping smartly over the lifeless eight-centimeter body-length camel spider (not a true arachnid but a member of the order solifugae), researcher Moayyad Shersha, a field research assistant, gently lifted a cage with a slightly dazed desert fox (Vulpus ruepelli) into the truck. We were ready to head out to the release point, which in this case was where the animal was captured.
“We get lots of those running about here,” he said nodding at the spider. “Annoying at night when you sleep out.”
Right; sharp intake of breath and point noted.
At this point it is important to set the right tone. As is the way with scientists who spend their lives researching and recording species in their care they like to keep the taxonomy of their beasts accurate even if the effect of their personal image disturbs the occasional less knowledgeable visitor. Their familiarity with the Latin names — and the creatures themselves — comes with practice. To acknowledge their professionalism the correct taxonomy will be used to introduce species — thence forward the more familiar identification.
Now tagged and fitted with a collar-mounted radio transmitter the huge-eared, wide-eyed fox seemed entirely unaffected by its adventures. Sustained by the hunk of fresh chicken it had recently gulped down as bait, it lounged patiently awaiting its fate.
Its release in a gathering sandstorm, together with re-baiting the humane traps to attempt the capture of the elusive Arabian Sand Cat (Felis margarita harrisoni) marked the end of another day in the work of the National Wildlife Research Center’s (NWRC) Mahazat as-Sayd 2244 sq km reserve located about 200km northwest of Taif.
The NWRC, whose headquarters is located around 30km south of Taif, and the reserve are operated under the banner of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) which itself was established by a Royal Decree in 1986.
Among other things, the decree required the commission to “Develop and implement plans to preserve wildlife in its natural ecology and to propose the establishment of proper protected areas and reserves for wildlife in the Kingdom, and to manage such areas.”
Director General Ahmed Boug is proud that Director General Ahmed Boug is proud that Mahazat as-Sayd is the second biggest fenced reserve in the world and that the perimeter is patrolled every day to ensure its structural integrity.
“The aim of the breeding and conservation programs we run here,” he said, “is to produce a free range and sustainable population of the species we deal with.”
The NCWCD has succeeded in carrying out its mandate to a remarkable degree, signal successes being the reintroduction of the iconic and almost extinct Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx), the Houbra Bustard (Chlamydotis macqueenii) and the Arabian Sand Gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa marica) to sustainable breeding levels.
There is however much work to do; several species are threatened and some have almost disappeared. The spiny-tailed lizard locally known as “dhub” (Genus uromastyx) is under threat from hunters, and two very attractive cats — the Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) and the Sand Cat — are cases in point.
Once ostriches roamed the peninsula’s desert — evidenced in the petroglyphs scratched into rocks all over the Kingdom. The red-necked ostrich (Struthio camelus caemlus) is gradually being reintroduced though recent drought caused upsets in the breeding cycle.
With urban development and the march of progress apace why, asking the hard question, does the fate of a few — some quite unlovely — animals matter? What difference would it really make?
In a word; interconnectedness.
Dr. Mohammed Shobrak, who has been involved with the NWRC for the best part of two decades, took the question with total equanimity.
“The truth is in a sense, we don’t know,” he said. “And because we don’t know, we should find out to head off catastrophe. It’s much easier to plan and prevent it than fix it when it happens.”
He gave a simple example that demonstrated the domino effect of eliminating a species from the sensitively balanced desert eco-system.
Seeds form part of the diet for many desert creatures. Some of those seeds cannot germinate until they have passed through the digestive tract of the dhub and have been re-buried in the sand. Hunt out the dhub, and the plants die; the plants die and other animal species die; the lack of plants also reduces the ground cover for arid land. This in turn leads to wind erosion as there are fewer physical wind-breaks provided by the plants and a reduced binding effect on the soil. Shade is reduced and other species disappear or migrate, taking with them their individual effects on the environment, compounding the developing problem.
Eventually, the land becomes devoid of almost all plant cover and windblown sand moves — perhaps onto the few agricultural areas that sustain human life. This may take a century or two — but the key issue is that the research done by the NCWCD and the NWRC points out the possible — even likely — scenarios well in time.
Thus wiping out a lizard could, a century later, cause irreversible desertification of an agricultural area. Shobrak should know; Uromastyx shoubrakii — a dhub unique to the Kingdom — carries his name, although his real fascination is with the Lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotus) the study of which earned him his doctorate.
The center runs an educational program and — administered by Abdulrahman Khoja, who, because of his boundless enthusiasm and energy is known affectionately to the staff as “Wildman Khoja” — welcomes schools and visitors to introduce future generations to the need to conserve and maintain the balance of arid-land ecosystems.
“Come,” he says, leading a visitor in friendly but firm grip to the photos, videos and pamphlets produced in the center’s offices, “come any time; you are welcome.”
It would be a serious misconception to regard the Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area and the Taif center as political gestures toward the environment by the government. They are not.
They are centers of excellence producing important contributions to scientific knowledge, attracting specialists of international stature to their facilities. As usual with such endeavours, convincing accountants and budget setters of their importance in the long term without so much as a sniff of instant profit is an uphill struggle. But there is no doubting the dedication and energy of the staff working permanently in what can only be described as arduous conditions.
A ranger came into the rickety trailer perched in the Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area while we were taking a break from following Oryx. Unusually, for the custom of the country, he declined to shake hands but acknowledged our presence gracefully, sitting with us and taking tea and making conversation for a full twenty minutes.
It was only when we left that a traveling companion whispered to us that the ranger did not want to make a fuss in front of guests, but a desert wolf (Canis lupes arabs) a critically endangered species — he was dealing with had bitten off one of his fingers and badly mangled a thumb.
Accountants sitting in safe comfortable offices listen up; whatever this guy is paid, it is not enough!
This article is the first in a series spread over the next few months on the work of the NCWCD, the NWRC and the species it researches and works with.