Queen Sheba's Gazelle

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Extinct (1951) (IUCN 3.1)

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Antilopinae
Genus:	Gazella
Species:	G. bilkis

Binomial name

Gazella bilkis
Groves & Lay, 1985

The Queen Sheba's Gazelle (Gazella bilkis Groves & Lay, 1985), also called the Yemen Gazelle, is an extinct^[1] species of gazelle. The American Museum of Natural History's Committee on Recently Extinct Organisms recognizes the possibility that it was a subspecies of the Arabian Gazelle, however. It was found on the mountains and hillsides in Yemen but there have been no sightings of the species since 1951, when five specimens were collected in mountains near Ta'izz, where it was reportedly common at the time^[1].

There have been no further specimens, sightings or reports of this gazelle. Surveys in the area of their former occurrence have failed to find any sign of its presence.^[2]

In 1985, a photograph of gazelles was taken in a private collection, Al Wabra Wildlife Farm, in Qatar. Zoologist Colin Groves claims these could possibly be surviving Queen of Sheba's Gazelles^[3]. It is not confirmed that these animals truly belong to this species.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Participants at 4th International Conservation Workshop for the Threatened Fauna of Arabia (2003). Gazella bilkis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006.
^ Mallon, D.P. and Al-Safadi, M. 2001.Yemen. In: D.P. Mallon and S.C. Kingswood (compilers). 2001. Antelopes. Part 4: North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Global Survey and Regional Action Plans, pp. 63-68. IUCN, Gland.
^ Research in Arabia, 1987 and 1992: visits to King Khalid and National Wildlife Research Centres (Saudi Arabia), Al Wabra Wildlife Farm (Qatar), Al-Areen Wildlife Park and Reserve (Bahrain) and Al Ain Zoo (United Arab Emirates). Downloaded on 29 December 2006 from http://arts.anu.edu.au/grovco/Arabia.htm