ABU DHABI // Two young bucks are the toast of Al Ain Zoo after fathering 12 Speke’s gazelle fawn.
The two males were brought in from the Wadi Al Safa Wildlife Centre in Dubai last year to add diversity to the gazelle’s bloodlines.
The zoo assessed their health and kept them in quarantine for a month before introducing them to the females.
To ensure genetic diversity, the females were split into two groups, with one male assigned to each.
Al Ain Zoo now has a herd of 30 Speke’s gazelles, a species that has been classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2008.
“Al Ain Zoo has long been committed to wildlife preservation and conservation, and collaborating with many organisations that are aligned with our cause helps us work towards a shared goal,” said Muna Al Dhaheri, chief executive of education and conservation at Al Ain Zoo.
“The successful breeding of the Speke’s gazelle supports the vision of the late Sheikh Zayed for the UAE to become a leader in environmental sustainability and wildlife protection, including of desert species.”
The zoo has run conservation and breeding programmes for species of oryx, gazelle, the Arabian leopard and the houbara bustard.
It has partnerships with the World Conservation Union and Species Survival Commission, Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, San Diego Zoo, Edinburgh Zoo, the Northern Rangelands Trust of Kenya and the Sahara Conservation Fund.
ksinclair@thenational.ae
