Mountain gazelle  (Gazella gazella)

Classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List 2006 (1). Six subspecies are currently recognised, with five of these listed on the IUCN Red List. The Arabian mountain gazelle (G. g. cora) and Farasan gazelle (G. g. farasani) are classified as Vulnerable (VU), the Palestine mountain gazelle (G. g. gazella) is classified as Endangered (EN), and the Muscat gazelle (G. g. muscatensis) and the acacia gazelle (G. g. acaciae) are classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List 2006. G. g. erlangeri has not been classified by the IUCN (1).The taxonomy of Gazella gazella has been hotly debated in the past, with some populations having been described as independent species, later being renamed as subspecies of the mountain gazelle, and then later being re-described as independent species again. To complicate matters, a number of gazelle populations in Arabian Peninsula are not considered pure, but rather the result of cross-breeding between two or more unknown species or subspecies (2). Though scientists currently describe six subspecies for mountain gazelles (1), recent genetic research has demonstrated that the taxonomy of this species has to be changed considerably (2).