ARABIAN TAHR (hemitragus jayakari )
Arabian tahr (Hemitragus jayakari) have long reddish-brown hair, with a dark stripe down their back and short, goat-like, stubby horns. Older males sport a beard, which is absent in the younger animals. The calves are grey in colour at birth, changing to greyish-brown around the same time when the horns start to grow. In contrast to the mountain gazelle the Arabian tahr needs to drink water every day.
An agile climber, this animal is found only in the mountains, where it dwells on steep cliffs, feeding on the sparse grass and shrubs growing amongst the rocks. They descend regularly into the valleys to find a pool from which to drink.
The tahr's existence on top of Jebel Hafit near Al Ain had been mentioned by Wilfred Thesiger some 45 years ago. After a last carcass of a tahr was found near a water pool on this mountain in 1982 and no further evidence of this secretive animal came to light from either Jebel Hafit or any of the other mountains, it was generally thought that the tahr was extinct outside the Sultanate of Oman.
However, reports received from local people living in the mountains indicated that an animal different from a gazelle was being seen from time to time in various areas in the northern Emirates. Then, in 1995, during a survey conducted by T. and C. Stuart on behalf of the Arabian Leopard Trust a female tahr, together with her kid, was photographed when both animals descended to drink at one of the water pools! No doubt the Arabian leopard was the tahr's natural enemy, but today it is the destruction of their natural habitat by feral goats, as well as poaching, that keep their numbers dangerously low.
In Iraq, Arabian tahr is called “Waa’l”.
Like the “bighorn” and the “Ibex” Arabian tahr is found in the eastern region on the Iraq-Iran boarders and on the mountains of Sulaymaniya. The endemic Arabian Tahr, Hemitragus jayakari, is endangered and may well become extinct in the United Arab Emirates in the near future. In May 2000 specimens were again spotted on Jebel Hafit and in the Shumayliyah Mountains. Attempts are now being made to determine how many animals still exist in the UAE as an accurate estimate has never been made. Though these animals are high in number in Oman, it seems that in the Northern edges of their range the number of individuals decreases significantly. The exact reasons for this are unknown. However, competition for grazing and hunting pressure are restricting the growth in population. These two issues are the most pertinent, if there is any hope of saving the Tahr in the UAE.
