An Annotated Checklist of the Mammals of Kuwait

An annotated checklist of the mammals of Kuwait is presented, based on the literature, personal communications, a Kuwait website and a blog and the author‟s observations. Twenty five species occur, a further four are uncommon or rare visitors, six used to occur whilst another two are of doubtful provenance. This list should assist those planning desert rehabilitation, animal reintroduction and protected area projects in Kuwait.


Introduction
his annotated checklist of the non-domesticated mammals of Kuwait is intended to be of use to those planning forthcoming desert rehabilitation, animal reintroduction and protected area projects there, funded by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC, 2005), and to stimulate further field research, especially into Kuwait"s rodents (Rodentia) and bats (Chiroptera).Harrison and Bates" (1991) volume on the mammals of Arabia is the single most useful source for Kuwait"s terrestrial mammals but otherwise the literature is scattered and often difficult to obtain.
The scientific nomenclature and sequence I have used for terrestrial mammal species is that of Harrison and Bates (1991) with one exception.Gazella saudiya (Kingswood et al., 2001) was treated by Harrison and Bates (1991) as a subspecies of Gazella dorcas.The Cetacea follow the "Conservation checklist" of Shirihai (2006) and have been inserted before the artiodactyls.Frequently cited references are AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan"s (2012) photographic website on the wildlife of Kuwait, Clayton (1983), Clayton and Wells (1987), Harrison and Bates (1991) and Mike Pope"s (2012) photographic blog on the birds and other wildlife of Kuwait.PJC stands for author"s observations.Thirty seven species are listed in the systematic list below.Twenty five constitute the present Kuwait mammalian fauna, indicated by PKMF after the authority citation of the scientific name.Four species are uncommon or rare visitors to Kuwait (RV), six used to occur in Kuwait (EX) and two are of doubtful provenance (DP).

CHIROPTERA
Naked-rumped tomb bat Taphozous nudiventris Cretzschmar 1830 PKMF Rare visitor presumably from Iraq (Clayton, 1983;Clayton and Wells, 1987).Large roost of ca.500 or more found at a farm on outskirts of Kuwait city 16 September 2002(Al-Sirhan, 2007;Al-Sirhan, 2012).Flying individuals there at sunset early December 2007 after "many bats erupted from one of the farm buildings" (Pope, 2012).Photographed at the farm April 2008 and 2009 and droppings found there November 2007 and December 2009, all suggesting it is a regular roost site and that the bats may well be resident (Al-Sirhan, 2009).

CARNIVORA
Wolf Canis lupus Linnaeus 1758 EX Occurred but apparently no longer present (Clayton and Wells, 1987;Harrison and Bates, 1991).

Fennec fox Vulpes zerda (Zimmermann 1780) DP
There are two specimens known from Arabia if the Sinai is excluded.One was obtained in Kuwait and sent to London in 1935 and one from southern Iraq was reported in 1982 (Gasperetti et al., 1985;Harrison and Bates, 1991).A third, an animal captured live near Jebel Hafit (UAE/Oman border) and put in Al-Ain zoo, was actually a Rüppell"s fox Vulpes rueppellii (Harrison and Bates, 1991).The fennec fox is a Saharan species that occurs as far east as the Sinai in Egypt (Asa et al., 2004) and is often kept in captivity.It is suspicious that there are no other Arabian records, casting doubt on the provenance of the Kuwait and Iraq individuals (Stuart and Stuart, 2008).Omar and Abdulraheem (1996) stated that "Red and fennec foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Fennecus zerda) have been seen in Umm Ar-Rimman and Jal Az-Zor [nearby sites in Kuwait]…" and included the fennec fox in a list of species likely to be encountered within the Jal Az-Zor national park.They presented no proof for these fennec fox recordsyoung red and Rüppell"s foxes in the field are easily mistaken for fennec fox (e.g.Gasperetti et al., 1985).In an earlier publication on the Jal Az-Zor national park, Omar et al. (1986a) noted that Kuwaiti senior citizens remembered the fennec fox and presented a photo captioned, "Fennec Fox, rare and endangered mammalian species", which in fact depicts a red fox.Omar et al. (1986b) proposed reintroducing [sic] the fennec fox into the Jal Az-Zor national park.Alsdirawi and Faraj (2004) listed the presence of fennec fox in the Kuwait border demilitarised zone without proof but presumably on the basis of the Kuwait and Iraq individuals.
Indian grey mongoose Herpestes edwardsi (E.Geoffroy 1818) PKMF Clayton and Wells (1987) stated: "As recently as forty years ago they [Indian grey mongooses] were reported as being very common in Kuwait City.However, they are unlikely to be found in the modern city and nowadays have been relegated to outlying districts such as Jahra or Fahaheel."They probably originated as stowaways on trading dhows or as escaped pets (Clayton and Wells, 1987).A specimen was obtained from Kuwait (Harrison and Bates, 1991).
Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber 1776) EX Reported from the Kuwait area (though not necessarily from within what are the present-day boundaries of Kuwait) but presumably now long extinct (Clayton and Wells, 1987;Harrison and Bates, 1991).

CETACEA Sei whale Balaenoptera borealis Lesson 1828 RV
In March 1999 a 10 m long whale carcass was washed ashore and eventually identified as B. borealis (Bishop and Alsaffar, 2008).

Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus 1758) RV
The skeleton of a whale stranded at Kadhima in June 1963 and placed in the "Natural History Museum" was identified as that of B. musculus by Al-Robaae (1971b), who sent photographs of the skeleton and notes to F.C. Fraser of the British Museum (Natural History).Fraser replied "I…have no doubt about the genus of the animal concerned.It is Balaenoptera, I am not quite certain of the species…I am inclined to say that it is Balaenoptera musculus rather than Balaenoptera physalus, basing this on the shape of the nasals" (Al-Robaae, 1971b).The skeleton is now in the "Educational Science Museum" (visited April 2007).A second skeleton there is labelled as a blue whale length 6.5 m from the Khowaysat area between Kadmah and Doha 10 October 1976.A third specimen, caught north of Shuaiba industrial area on 26 December 1980 and measuring 7 m in length, is also on display there (Nithyanandan, 2010a).

False killer whale Pseudorca crassidens (Owen 1846) RV
A specimen was found south of Kuwait city in 1964.Its skeleton was mounted and displayed in the "Natural History Museum", Kuwait (Al-Robaae, 1971a).
Finless porpoise Neophocaena phocaenoides (G.Cuvier 1829) PKMF Farmer (1983) noted this species had been recorded and included a photo of a stranded individual.Henningsen and Constantine (1992) reported a group of two and a group of five in Kuwait bay about 2 km from shore.Andrew Willson (2007) reported several sightings and strandings.
Mountain gazelle Gazella gazella (Pallas 1766) DP Although intimated to have occurred (Clayton and Wells, 1987), it would seem most unlikely that this species, an inhabitant of the mountainous and nearby areas of the Arabian peninsula, has ever occurred naturally in Kuwait (Harrison and Bates, 1991;Kingswood et al., 2001).

Saudi gazelle Gazella saudiya (Carruthers and Schwarz 1935) EX
This species has been recorded (Harrison and Bates, 1991) and suggested for reintroduction (Omar et al., 1986b).However, Saudi gazelle is now considered extinct in the wild and may well be extinct in captivity too, as certain claimed captive G. saudiya populations have been shown not to be so (Kingswood et al., 2001;Hammond et al., 2001).Dunham et al. (2001) cast doubt on the existence of the species in the past in Kuwait: "Historically, this species was recorded on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula, with all records west of 47 °E except for one anomalous specimen from Kuwait, which reached the British Museum after a period of captivity at London Zoo… Recent DNA studies indicate that a record for Iraq (Harrison and Bates, 1991) refers to a sand gazelle [G.subgutturosa] (R. Hammond, personal communication)." Goitered gazelle Gazella subgutturosa (Guldenstaedt 1780) EX The taxon that occurred in Kuwait was the Arabian sand gazelle Gazella subgutturosa marica (Harrison and Bates, 1991;Kingswood et al., 2001).Any reintroduction plan (Omar et al., 1986b;Omar and Abdulraheem, 1996) needs to be aware of the genetic background of stock (Harrison and Bates, 1991;Kingswood et al., 2001).

RODENTIA
Indian crested porcupine Hystrix indica Kerr 1792 PKMFA few quills were collected in the Kuwait/Saudi Arabia border area in Wadi al Batin, February 1995 by S.T. Spencer and C.W.T. Pilcher(Spencer, 2009).