Arabic bouquet
| Arabic bouquet | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Struthio camelus syriacus | ||||||||||||
| Rothschild , 1919 |
The Arabian ostrich ( Struthio camelus syriacus ) was one of the five subspecies of the ostrich . He lived in the steppes and desert areas of Arabia . The Arabian ostrich was exterminated through excessive hunting in the middle of the 20th century.
Features, systematics
The subspecies of the ostrich are only distinguishable in the male sex. Especially according to the color of the neck, they can be divided into two kin groups, those with a blue neck color and those with a red neck color. Together with the North African ostrich Struthio camelus camelus , the Arabian ostrich formed the red-necked kinship group. The close relationship of the two subspecies was confirmed by sequence analyzes of the mitochondrial DNA (from museum material). The Arab and North African ostriches formed a common group that was not differentiated from one another. Both subspecies were probably in contact with each other in the area of the Sinai Peninsula.
Morphologically , the Arabian ostrich was very similar to the North African subspecies. Like this, the neck and legs of the male are reddish in color and a bare, but not horny head plate is formed on the head. It is distinguished by its smaller body size, narrower beak and noticeably shorter foot and tail.
distribution
The subspecies is known from the Arabian Peninsula. Allocation and status of ostriches that may have existed earlier in ancient texts and partly in excavated material from other parts of Asia, which might have been extinct in ancient times, are not given. The occurrence in Arabia is best attested from ancient and Arabic texts, from travelogues of European explorers, from finds (especially of eggs and eggshells) and from pictorial representations, the ostrich is said to have been quite common in Arabia. The distribution reached in the west to the Sinai Peninsula , in the east to the Euphrates Valley and the Persian Gulf , in the north to Damascus and Baghdad . In the south, the entire peninsula including Yemen was probably populated. Ostriches are depicted on Neolithic pottery shards of local painted vessels from Shimal and Tell Abraq on the coast of the Persian Gulf from the 2nd millennium BC. Ostrich eggs are said to have been one of the most popular souvenirs of the Islamic pilgrimage in the Middle Ages and were exported from here to numerous mosques.
Hunting and extinction
The main cause of the extinction was the heavy hunting of the bird. Before the spread of motorized vehicles and modern precision firearms, the hunt for ostriches on horseback was extremely difficult and demanding, so that even specialized hunters are said to have hardly captured two or three animals a year. Since the escape speed was their only protection, they were apparently quickly eradicated after the introduction of motor vehicles. The southern populations disappeared from their last refuge on the Saudi-Yemeni border between 1920 and 1930. The northern populations are believed to have been wiped out soon after 1940. The last information from Syria is from 1931, from northern Saudi Arabia before 1945. A last specimen is said to have been found dead in a flood in Jordan in 1966 .
Settlement projects
Various initiatives are trying to reintroduce ostriches in the Arab region. Since the Arabian ostrich has become extinct, the closely related North African subspecies Struthio camelus camelus should be used. This is difficult, among other things, because this is also threatened with extinction. The population in the Saudi Arabian Mahazat-as-Sayd sanctuary is now said to include 125 to 150 animals, but is repeatedly threatened in periods of drought. Some animals are also kept semi-wild in Chai Bar Jotvata in Wadi Araba in Israel.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joshua M. Miller, Sara Hallager, Steven L. Monfort, John Newby, Kelley Bishop, Scott A. Tidmus, Peter Black, Bill Houston, Conrad A. Matthee, Robert C. Fleischer (2011): Phylogeographic analysis of nuclear and mtDNA supports subspecies designations in the ostrich (Struthio camelus). Conservation Genetics 12: 423-431. doi : 10.1007 / s10592-010-0149-x
- ↑ Lord Rothschild (Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild) (1919): (The two-hundred-and-fortieth Meeting of the Club: Lord Rothschild described a new subspecies of Ostrich). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club 39: 81-83. pdf
- ↑ a b c D.T. Potts (2001): Ostrich distribution and exploitation in the Arabian peninsula. Antiquity 75: 182-190.
- ↑ Michael Jennings (1992): Wildlife and Conservation in eastern Yemen. Tribulus 2 (2): 34-36.
- ^ C. Roots (2006): Flightless Birds, Series: Greenwood Guides to the Animal World. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut London, p. 248., cit. according to RG Cooper, Kh.MA Mahrose, JO Horbańczuk, R. Villegas-Vizcaíno, S. Kennou Sebei, AE Faki Mohammed (2009): The wild ostrich (Struthio camelus): a review. Tropical Animal Health and Production 41: 1669-1678. doi : 10.1007 / s11250-009-9364-1 . p.1670.
- ^ Terence J. Robinson & Conrad A. Matthee (1999): Molecular genetic relationships of the extinct ostrich, Struthio camelus syriacus: consequences for ostrich introductions into Saudi Arabia. Animal Conservation Volume 2. Issue 3: 165-171
- ↑ Philip J. Seddon & Pritpal S. Soorae (2001): Guidelines for Subspecific Substitutions in Wildlife Restoration Projects. Conservation Biology 13 (1): 177-184 doi : 10.1046 / j.1523-1739.1999.97414.x
- ↑ M. Zafar-ul Islam, Khairi Ismail, Ahmed Boug (2008): Re-introduction of the Red-necked Ostrich, Struthio camelus camelus, in Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area in central Saudi Arabia. Zoology in the Middle East 44: 31-40.
- ↑ J. Sales: Current Conservation Status of Ratites html ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
