Distribution update of the Arabian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) from Saudi Arabia

• Main Authors: Cunningham, PL, Wronski, T
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wildlife Middle East News 2010
• Subjects: QH Natural history; QL Zoology; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6885/; https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6885/1/C%3A%5CUsers%5CNSPTWRON%5CDesktop%5Cwme_V5I3_En_05.pdf; http://www.wmenews.com/newsletters/wme_V5I3_En_05.pdf

Since the first Arabian wolf records in late 1880’s from northern and central Saudi Arabia their actual distribution has been sketchy with wolves never viewed as being very common throughout their range. Although widespread throughout Saudi Arabia earlier publications indicate wolves either from the mountainous south western Asir, northern rocky areas bordering Jordan or the central areas around Riyadh. Being an understudied species, Arabian wolves are probably more widespread than currently documented and accordingly the species is listed as Least Concern (LC) with a stable population trend with a CITES protection status of CITES Appendix II. The status of wolves in Saudi Arabia is difficult to determine due to a lack of research and systematic census although estimated numbers vary between 500 and 700 animals. The only official census in Saudi Arabia to date was conducted during late 1999 and early 2000 by Sinibaldi et al. (2000) who concluded that the overall numbers might be higher albeit still in a decreasing trend. The aim of this paper is to update the distribution of Arabian wolf in Saudi Arabia by providing recent locations and data from unpublished field reports difficult to access from outside Saudi Arabia.