Revisiting the radiation of Gazella arabica on the Arabian Peninsula and testing the suitability of captive breeding stock for reintroduction, using mitochondrial and nuclear markers.

Today, the Arabian gazelle (G. arabica) occurs only in small, scattered populations on the Arabian Peninsula and is classified as 'vulnerable', due to intensive hunting and competition with livestock. The taxonomy of this threatened species is still under debate, hampering conservation efforts while ex-situ breeding programs could be an appropriate conservation measure to prevent the species from going extinct. In our study, we attempted to elucidate the radiation of G. arabica on the Arabian Peninsula, and to ask whether the population genetic structure allows to distinguish between discrete conservation units. We used mitochondrial markers, microsatellite markers, and three intron markers to identify conservation units, to match them with genotypes found in the captive breeding stock held in Saudi Arabia, and to ensure that genotype diversity of potential founder individuals corresponds to that prevailing at targeted reintroduction sites. The sequence divergence was low among nuclear and mitochondrial markers, with gazelles originating from the north of the Arabian Peninsula showing the largest diversity, while south-western and eastern populations showed a decreased diversity. A haplotype network based on the relatively heterogeneous cytochrome b gene found no signs of a prolonged separate evolutionary history of any investigated mainland population, suggesting limitations of gene-flow after the colonization of the Arabian Peninsula leading to a founder effect-like distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes. The ex-situ breeding population held in Saudi Arabia showed a good haplotype diversity, underlining its general suitability for reintroductions. However, it is recommended that genetic data of founders should be assessed prior to future reintroduction.

ERADICATION OF BRUCELLA MELITENSIS FROM TWO CAPTIVE GAZELLE POPULATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA.

An outbreak of brucellosis occurred in a group of 726 sand gazelles (Gazella marica) at the Prince Mohammed Al-Sudairi Gazelle Breeding Center and in a group of 47 putative "Neumann's gazelles" (Gazella erlangeri) housed at the King Khalid Wildlife Research Center in Saudi Arabia. Clinical signs of anorexia, poor body condition, enlarged testes, reluctance to walk, swollen carpal joints, and suppurative arthritis were present in 16 sand gazelles and 14 Neumann's gazelles. All clinical cases were evaluated using a card agglutination test, complement fixation, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All cases were serologically positive for Brucella melitensis, confirmed through culture and isolation of the microorganism. DNA was extracted from the isolated organisms, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for sequencing. Evaluation focused on tracking the source of infection, the management of the two outbreaks, and the subsequent diagnosis, treatments, and success, including the successful eradication of Brucella from both populations.

Hematology RIs for captive and wild Arabian Sand Gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa marica) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: The Arabian Sand Gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa marica, Thomas, 1897) has been extirpated throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Captive breeding and reintroduction for conservation purposes require veterinary support and the use of hematology RIs. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to establish hematological RIs for the Arabian Sand Gazelle. METHODS: Blood from 231 clinically healthy captive and 22 wild (reintroduced) Arabian Sand Gazelles were sampled. The VetScan HM2 analyzer was used to determine the complete cell count (CBC) on the same morning of sample collection. American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology (ASVCP) guidelines were followed for statistical analyses. RESULTS: The white blood cell counts (WBC) and hematocrits (HCT) revealed broad RIs, the red blood cell counts (RBC) and hemoglobin (HGB) were characterized by a narrow RI, and the platelet count (PLT) yielded a wide RI due to high variance in the data. The HGB, MCHC, PLT, and platelet distribution width (PDW) were significantly different between the captive males and females. The majority of the variables assessed were significantly different between captive and wild animals. CONCLUSIONS: The large number of samples obtained for this study was considerable given the rare and endangered status of this species, which overall afforded narrow RIs and CIs. The main exception was for the PLT constituents. The significant differences observed between the captive and wild male gazelles show the need to understand the origin of the animals for which hematologic RIs are determined.

Causes of mortality of captive Arabian gazelles (Gazella Arabica) at King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from 1988 to 2011.

We investigated the causes of mortality of the Arabian gazelle (Gazella arabica) based on the necropsy records of 1218 captive animals at King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre, Saudi Arabia, from 1988 to 2011. The largest number of deaths was attributed to trauma (391, 32.1%). Trauma was subdivided into the following three categories: collisions with fences (144, 11.8%); predator activity (91, 7.5%), and exhibit-mate aggression (156, 12.8%). Respiratory infection was another important cause of mortality, accounting for 186 (15.3%) deaths. Respiratory infection was more prevalent during the winter season (November to March). Other causes of death included gastrointestinal diseases, such as clostridiosis and salmonellosis (108, 8.9%). Maternal neglect (104, 8.5%), chronic renal fibrosis (34, 2.8%), and stress-related pathologies (35, 2.9%), in particular, capture myopathy, were also important causes of mortality. Here, the importance of these findings for improvement of the captive management of this vulnerable Arabian species is discussed, and for the first time, salmonellosis in Arabian gazelles is reported.

Crossing the Red Sea: phylogeography of the hamadryas baboon, Papio hamadryas hamadryas.

The hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas hamadryas) is found both in East Africa and western Arabia and is the only free-ranging nonhuman primate in Arabia. It has been hypothesized that hamadryas baboons colonized Arabia in the recent past and were possibly even transported there by humans. We investigated the phylogeography of hamadryas baboons by sequencing a portion of the control region of mtDNA in 107 baboons from four Saudi Arabian populations and combing these data with published data from Eritrean (African) P. h. hamadryas. Analysis grouped sequences into three distinct clades, with clade 1 found only in Arabia, clade 3 found only in Africa, but clade 2 found in both Arabian and African P. h. hamadryas and also in the olive baboon, P. h. anubis. Patterns of variation within Arabia are neither compatible with the recent colonization of Arabia, implying that baboons were not transported there by humans, nor with a northerly route of colonization of Arabia. We propose that hamadryas baboons reached Arabia via land bridges that have formed periodically during glacial maxima at the straits of Bab el Mandab in the southern Red Sea. We suggest that the genetic differentiation of Arabian from African populations suggests that Arabian populations have a higher conservation status than recognized previously.