Mountain gazelle  (Gazella gazella)

The mountain gazelle was once distributed much more widely across the whole of Arabian Peninsula, and also in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria (3), but many former populations have now disappeared completely (2). At present mountain gazelles remain along the Red Sea coast and in the Asir Mountains in Saudi Arabia (6) (7), on the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea off the southwest coast of Saudi Arabia (1), along the coast and mountains of Yemen and Oman (8) and in the United Arab Emirates (9). Apparently, Iranian gazelles on the Forur Island in the Persian Gulf are also one of the mountain gazelle subspecies (2). Two populations of this gazelle occur in Israel: G. g. gazella, which lives in the hills and mountains of the north part of country, and a small desert population of G. g. acaciae, which is left only in the south part of the Arava Rift Valley (Negev) (2).

Mountain gazelles live in low altitude mountains, sometimes in very steep terrain, but avoid rocky areas and walking on rocks. They prefer plateaus, hilly relief, foothills and valleys between mountains and open habitats or areas with light forest in gravel or sandy plains (2) (3), but also occur in regions of real desert and coastal dunes (1). In Arabia, they usually live on rough terrain of mountain beds, gorges, and rolling hills (10). Mountain gazelles can withstand severe climatic conditions. They live in very hot and dry Jordan Valley, the Negev Desert, and the Nafud and Dhofar Deserts, where mid-day temperature can reach 45 degrees Celsius, and in northern Israel where sub-zero temperatures are not rare on winter nights and snow can cover the ground for several days (2).