The distribution of Gazella bennetti in Iran is reviewed. The species is commonly said to be confined to the southeastern part of the country, but is actually widespread over suitable areas, east of the Zagros Range and south of the Alborz. In the north and west of this range, there is a hitherto undescribed subspecies, which is named and diagnosed for the first time in this paper; its similari...

In many polygynous ruminant species, males decrease their food intake considerably during the rut. To explain this phenomenon of rut-reduced hypophagia, two main hypotheses, the Foraging-Constraint Hypothesis and Energy-Saving Hypothesis, have been proposed. In our research, we assessed the behavioral strategy of goitered gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) through the rutting period. According to ...

Case 1. An increase in mortality occurred in a herd of 7000 free ranging Rhim gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa marica) in the UAE. Post-mortem revealed ruminal bloat and generalized haemorrhagic gastro-enteritis. Laboratory diagnosis confirmed Clostridium perfringens (direct smears and toxins found) enterotoxaemia and coli septicaemia. As this disease process was considered multifactorial, dietar...

A molecular and serological survey of selected viruses in free-ranging wild ruminants was conducted in 13 different districts in Iran. Samples were collected from 64 small wild ruminants belonging to four different species including 25 Mouflon (Ovis orientalis), 22 wild goat (Capra aegagrus), nine Indian gazelle (Gazella bennettii) and eight Goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) during the na...

To test whether free-living desert ungulates employ heterothermy to reduce water loss, we measured core body temperature (T(b)) of six free-living Arabian sand gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa marica), a small desert antelope (12-20 kg) that lives in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, where air temperature (T(a)) often exceeds 40 degrees C. We found that the mean daily T(b) varied by 2.6+/-0.8 degrees ...