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Arabian Peninsula Coastal Fog Desert
The Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert, also known as the Southwestern Arabian coastal xeric scrub, is a desert ecoregion on the southern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, which experiences thick fogs where visibility may be reduced to . It is classed as an Afrotropical fog desert Location and description This ecosystem exists on a strip along the western and eastern coasts of Arabia. It follows the coast of Oman southward from Masirah Island and reaches inland to in the Jiddat al Harasisi plateau and the Dhofar Mountains. From here it continues as a very narrow strip (only wide) along the coast of Yemen and up the wide the Tihamah plain along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. In Oman and Yemen moisture is provided by thick fogs coming off the ocean during the summer khareef monsoon, while the hot Tihamah plain is moisturised by some rainfall and the generally high humidity of the Red Sea. Flora and fauna Although it rarely rains, the fog provides moisture sufficient to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrotropic
The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopian Zone or Ethiopian Region. Major ecological regions Most of the Afrotropical realm, except for Africa's southern tip, has a tropical climate. A broad belt of deserts, including the Atlantic and Sahara deserts of northern Africa and the Arabian Desert of the Arabian Peninsula, separates the Afrotropic from the Palearctic realm, which includes northern Africa and temperate Eurasia. Sahel and Sudan South of the Sahara, two belts of tropical grassland and savanna run east and west across the continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ethiopian Highlands. Immediately south of the Sahara lies the Sahel belt, a transitional zone of semi-arid short grassland and vachellia savanna. Rainfall increases further south in the Sudanian Savanna, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple Plant stem, stems and shorter height, less than tall. Small shrubs, less than tall are sometimes termed as subshrubs. Many botany, botanical groups have species that are shrubs, and others that are trees and herbaceous plants instead. Some define a shrub as less than and a tree as over 6 m. Others use as the cutoff point for classification. Many trees do not reach this mature height because of hostile, less than ideal growing conditions, and resemble shrub-sized plants. Others in such species have the potential to grow taller in ideal conditions. For longevity, most shrubs are classified between Perennial plant, perennials and trees. Some only last about five years in good conditions. Others, usually larger and more woody, live beyond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caracal
The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized Felidae, wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ears, relatively short tail, and long canine teeth. Its coat is uniformly reddish tan or sandy, while the ventral parts are lighter with small reddish markings. It reaches at the shoulder and weighs . It was first scientific description, scientifically described by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1776. Three subspecies are recognised. Typically nocturnality, nocturnal, the caracal is highly secretive and difficult to observe. It is territory (animal), territorial, and lives mainly alone or in pairs. The caracal is a carnivore that typically preys upon birds, rodents, and other small mammals. It can leap higher than and catch birds in midair. It stalks its prey until it is within of it, after which it ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goat Antelope
The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine. Prominent members include sheep and goats, with some other members referred to as goat antelopes. Some earlier taxonomies considered Caprinae a separate family called Capridae (with the members being caprids), but now it is usually considered either a subfamily within the Bovidae, or a tribe within the subfamily Antilopinae of the family Bovidae, with caprines being a type of bovid. Characteristics Although most goat-antelopes are gregarious and have fairly stocky builds, they diverge in many other ways – the muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'') is adapted to the extreme cold of the tundra; the mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus'') of North America is specialised for very rugged terrain; the urial (''Ovis orientalis'') occupies a largely infertile area from Kashmir to Iran, inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nubian Ibex
The Nubian ibex (''Capra nubiana'') is a desert-dwelling goat species (Genus ''Capra (genus), Capra'') found in mountainous areas of North Africa, northern and Horn of Africa, northeast Africa, and the Middle East. It was historically considered to be a subspecies of the Alpine ibex (''C. ibex''), but is now considered a distinct species. The wild population is estimated at 4,500 mature individuals, and it is classified as Vulnerable species, vulnerable. Taxonomy Classification The Nubian ibex was first identified in History of science, modern science by Frédéric Cuvier in his 1825 ''Histoire naturelle des mammifères: avec des figures originales, coloriées, dessinées d'aprèsdes animaux vivans'', in which he illustrated the animal with the label "Bouc sauvage de la Haute-Égypte" ("Wild goat of Upper Egypt"). It was initially classified as ''Capra ibex nubiana'', a subspecies of the Alpine ibex (''C. ibex''), which had been previously identified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabian Gazelle
The Arabian gazelle ''(Gazella arabica)'' is a species of gazelle from the Arabian Peninsula. There are approximately 5,000 – 7,000 mature individuals in the wild.IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group. 2017. ''Gazella arabica''. ''The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species'' 2017: e.T117582065A88018124. . Accessed on 12 March 2023. It is now synonymous with ''Gazella erlangeri'', commonly known as Erlanger's gazelle or Neumann's gazelle. Taxonomy Until recently, it was only known from a single lectotype specimen mistakenly thought to have been collected on the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea in 1825. A 2013 genetic study of the lectotype specimen revealed that skull and skin do not stem from the same individual but belong to two distinct lineages of the mountain gazelle (''Gazella gazella''), necessitating restriction of the lectotype to the skin to conserve nomenclatural stability. A later study formalized the use of ''Gazella arabica'' for the Arabian lineage of the mountain gazelle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabian Oryx
The Arabian oryx or white oryx (''Oryx leucoryx'') is a medium-sized antelope with a distinct shoulder bump, long, straight horns, and a tufted tail. It is a bovid, and the smallest member of the genus '' Oryx'', native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabian oryx was extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private reserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980. In 1986, the Arabian oryx was classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List, and in 2011, it was the first animal to revert to vulnerable status after previously being listed as extinct in the wild. It is listed in CITES Appendix I. In 2016, populations were estimated at 1,220 individuals in the wild, including 850 mature individuals, and 6,000–7,000 in captivity worldwide. Etymology The taxonomic name ''Oryx leucoryx'' is from the Greek ' (gazelle or antelope) and ' (white). The Arabian oryx is also called the white oryx in English, ' in Hebrew, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphorbia Balsamifera
''Euphorbia balsamifera'' (balsam spurge) is a flowering plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It is distributed in the Canary Islands and the western Sahara. It is the vegetable symbol of the island of Lanzarote. '' Euphorbia adenensis'' has been treated as a subspecies of this species. Description The plant varies greatly in height. It can be described both as a low shrub or as a small tree from 2–5 meters tall. The stems are up to 15 cm in diameter, semisucculent without spines, covered with transverse leaf-scars. The color of the stem varies from gray to terra-cotta. It is branched from the base, the older parts gradually becoming knotty and very thick. The leaves are 80 millimeters long and 4–8 millimeters wide clustered at the tips of the stems. They are green and glaucous, sessile, varying in shape from linear-lanceolate to ovate. The inflorescences are terminal cymes, usually reduced to a single semi-sessile 6 millimeters wide cyathium at the tip of each stem. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jabal Urays
The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border with Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. It is a rather mountainous area that covers and had a population of 416,458 in the 2020 census. Salalah is the largest city and capital of the governorate. Historically, the region was a source of frankincense. The local dialect of Arabic is Dhofari Arabic, which is distinct from that used in the rest of Oman and in Yemen. History Archaeology At ''Aybut Al-Auwal'' ("First Aybut") in Wadi Aybut (west-central Nejd), a site was discovered in 2011 containing more than 100 surface scatters of stone tools belonging to a regionally specific lithic industry, the late Nubian Complex, known previously only from Northeast Africa. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at 106,000 years old. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boswellia Sacra
''Boswellia sacra'', also known as ''Boswellia carteri'' and others, and commonly called the frankincense tree or the olibanum tree, is a tree in the genus '' Boswellia,'' in the Burseraceae family, from which frankincense, a resinous dried sap, is harvested. The olibanum tree is a plant native to the countries of Oman and Yemen, in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, and to Somalia and Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa. In 2012, it was replanted in Israel in the Middle East, 1,500 years after dying out there. Description The ''Boswellia sacra'' species is a small deciduous tree that grows to a height of , with one or more trunks, and the bark has the texture of paper, and can be easily removed. The tree has compound leaves and an odd number of leaflets that grow opposite to one another; the small, yellow-white flowers are gathered in axillary clusters composed of five petals, ten stamens, and a cup with five teeth; new leaves feature a downy covering. The fruit of the Boswelli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commiphora
''Commiphora'' is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. The genus contains approximately 190 species of shrubs and trees, which are distributed throughout the (sub-) tropical regions of Africa, the western Indian Ocean islands, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and South America.Weeks, A. and Simpson, B.B. 2007. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of ''Commiphora'' (Burseraceae) yields insight on the evolution and historical biogeography of an “impossible” genus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 42:62–79. The genus is drought-tolerant and common throughout the xerophytic scrub, seasonally dry tropical forests, and woodlands of these regions. The common name myrrh refers to several species of the genus, from which aromatic resins are derived for various fragrance and medicinal uses by humans. A previously unknown species belonging to this genus has been grown from a single ancient seed and tentatively identified as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senegalia Senegal
''Senegalia senegal'' (also known as ''Acacia senegal'') is a small thorny deciduous tree from the genus '' Senegalia'', which is known by several common names, including gum acacia, gum arabic tree, Sudan gum and Sudan gum arabic. In parts of India, it is known as kher, khor, or kumatiya. It is native to semi-desert regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Oman, Pakistan, and west coastal India. It grows to a height of 5–12 metres (16-40'), with a trunk up to 30 cm (1') in diameter. Sudan is the source of the world's highest quality gum arabic, known locally as hashab gum in contrast to the related, but inferior, gum arabic from Red acacia or talah gum. Uses Gum arabic The tree is of great economic importance for the gum arabic it produces which is used as a food additive, in crafts, and as a cosmetic. The gum is drained from cuts in the bark, and an individual tree will yield 200 to 300 grams (7 to 10 oz). Eighty percent of the world's gum arabic is produced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
