African Wildlife Art The very first record of a Cheetah in Arabia dates from 1950 which being from the photograph of a skin of the animal shot in Northern Saudi Arabia (1). There was mentions of tracks and sightings ahead of that date. In 1950, like today people often mistook Cheetah for Leopard or Tiger. These combine of names are extremely common and also quite reputable newspapers will make the big mistake.
Cheetah artYou will find just two records for Cheetah within the Southern section of Arabia. The first is from Oman as well as the other from Yemen. The Yemen animal would be a ‘sighting’ of your animal in Wadi Mitan, South Yemen in 1963. The Oman record originates from a dog killed by tribesmen in 1977 inside the Jibjat area of Dhofar
The IUCN Red List on the net states how the
Cheetah painting is regionally extinct inside the United Arab Emirates and Oman. It states this without showing that the species ever actually happened in the Uae and in line with the single Oman record. Within the comprehensive 1998 'Current Status of the Cheetah' mention is made of the one Oman specimen however the Uae doesn't get a mention being an section of former distribution.
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