The Arabian Oryx was reportedly common in the Manasir area of western UAE, ranging into the Rub Al Khali (Philby 1933) but declined due to uncontrolled hunting and it became Extinct in the Wild in the UAE sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s. It has since been reintroduced to several sites: the Arabian Oryx Protected Area at Umm al Zumoul in southeast Abu Dhabi; Qasr Al Sarab Protected Area, which lies adjacent to the AOPA to the west; Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR), and Al Marmoom Conservation Area and adjacent desert in Dubai. Oryx are also present in government and private collections, some of which are extensive, and managed under a range of different conditions. The Arabian Oryx formerly occurred through most of the Arabian Peninsula, north to Kuwait and Iraq. The species' range had already contracted by the early years of the 20th century and the decline accelerated thereafter. Before 1920, oryx distribution was separated into areas over 1,000 km apart: a northern subpopulation in and around the Nafud (Saudi Arabia), and a larger southern subpopulation in the Rub Al Khali and the plains of central-southern Oman. Oryx disappeared from the north in the 1950s. In the south, their range steadily decreased due to hunting, and by the 1960s Oryx were restricted to parts of central and southern Oman. The last wild individuals were probably shot in 1972 on the Jiddat al Harasis, Oman. Arabian Oryx have been reintroduced to several sites across the Arabian Peninsula in addition to the sites in the United Arab Emirates. There is an introduced subpopulation on Hawar Island, Bahrain and large semi-managed subpopulations at several sites in Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia (Harrison and Bates 1991, IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group 2017c).

Killer Whales are found off the east coast of the UAE but they also enter the Gulf. There are confirmed sightings from near Mubarraz, west of Abu Dhabi in March 2000 and off Jebel Ali in November 2000 (Baldwin 2005). One individual sighted off Abu Dhabi (UAE) in 2008 was resighted in Sri Lanka in 2015 (G.L. Gemmell pers. comm. 2018), suggesting that Killer Whales in this region migrate long distances. There were two records off Abu Dhabi in 2008, including a stranding and a sighting in 2011. It is seen about once a year in Dubai waters, including one off Palm Jumeira in 2014, and at Ra's Kharab in 2015. There were records off Umm al Qawain in 2011 and 2017. Killer Whales were sighted at least twice in the Gulf in 2017, in both Iranian and UAE waters, and once in 2018 in Iran (H. Moshiri pers. comm. 2018). It is probably a regular visitor rather than a resident species in UAE waters. The Killer Whale is the most cosmopolitan of all cetaceans and may occur in virtually any marine habitat but is most common in cold-water areas of high marine productivity, particularly at higher latitudes and near-shore (Reeves et al. 2017).

This species was first recorded in the UAE in 2018 during a bat survey in the Hajar Mountains when specimens were obtained from three different localities; Wadi Shees (Sharjah); Wadi Abadilah (Fujairah), and Wadi Ashashah (Ras Al Khaimah) (Jomat et al. 2018). It is unknown whether this species has always been present in the UAE or is a recent arrival. There are a few records of the species from the Hajar Mountains in Oman (Harrison and Bates 1991). Globally, the species occurs in southern and central Europe, northwest Africa, Turkey, the Caucasus, Arabian Peninsula and Central Asia (Piraccini 2016).

There are records from Al Ain, Baynoonah and Umm al Zummoul in Abu Dhabi, the Aweer area of Dubai and further north into the Al Madam Plain (Aspinall et al. 2005, Drew and Tourenq 2005). There is a record from Jebel Ali (airport site) on the UAE birding website and it is known from the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (G. Simkins pers. comm. 2018) and probably at Al Marmoom; and also at Dulaima and Bridi in Sharjah (K. Budd pers. comm. 2018). However, there are no records in the last ten years from protected areas in Abu Dhabi and there may be some confusion in the identification of this species and Meriones arimalius. The conformed distribution is patchy and the species may occur more widely in desert areas. There are no records from the mountains. The global range extends across North Africa, south to Sudan, then east to Turkey, the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East and western Pakistan (Granjon 2016a). It is widespread in the Arabian Peninsula (Harrison and Bates 1991).

This species was formerly regarded as a subspecies of Meriones libycus, with the type locality at Jabrin, Saudi Arabia and distribution restricted to the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, in Oman, UAE and parts of Saudi Arabia (Harrison and Bates 1991). Specimens have been recorded at a point along the Abu Dhabi-Buraimi road and Jebel Faiyah, Fujairah (Harrison and Bates 1991) and Sweihan, Umm Al Zummoul, and Al Khatam in Abu Dhabi (Drew and Tourenq 2005). It occurs around Al Ain and is often seen on spotlight surveys around the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife, Sharjah. It may occur more widely across the UAE. Casola (2016b) restricted M. arimalius to the Rub Al Khali of Oman and Saudi Arabia, stating that it may also occur in southern UAE, but this disregards the records reported above from the UAE sector of the Rub Al Khali and localities farther north. So far, all published specimens from UAE have been identified as M. arimalius, and only this species is mapped here. However, the possibility that M. lybicus also occurs in the country cannot be completely excluded.

This species is rarely recorded in UAE waters. It has occasionally been recorded off the East Coast (Baldwin 1995). An examination of whales reported in the Gulf since 1883 confirmed eight records of Humpback Whales, including Holocene remains of one specimen from Abu Dhabi, but none of the other seven records was from UAE (Dakteh et al. 2017). Four of the records were from Iran. Two strandings and one sighting of a mother-calf pair also have been recorded for the Gulf of Oman coast of Iran (Braulik et al. 2010, Owfi et al. 2015). A number of sightings have also been recently reported off the coast of Pakistan (Moazzam and Nawaz 2017). The last known sighting on the east coast was in 1979 at Khor Fakkan though this species is likely to travel past this shoreline from time to time. On 9 October 2017, a number of sightings and video recording of a mother Humpback and calf off the coast of Dubai were reported to the UAE Dolphin Project (<a href=""http://www.uaedolphinproject.org"">www.uaedolphinproject.org</a>), the first recent record of live Humpback Whales in the Gulf. These sightings support the hypothesis (Dakteh et al. 2017) that the Gulf may be part of the natural home range of the Arabian Sea Humpback subpopulation and reconfirm the importance of regional collaboration on conservation efforts. It is also one of the very few occasions that a mother and a calf of this species have been observed in the region in the past 20 years. The Arabian Sea Humpback Whale (ASHW) subpopulation is the only one known in the region. There are a number of records for the northwest Gulf of Oman near the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz (Baldwin et al. 1999, Minton et al. 2011, Pomilla et al. 2014) and it is a reasonable assumption that a this is a single stock with continuous distribution into the Gulf (Dakteh et al. 2017). Whaling data and recent scientific research confirm that the ASHW subpopulation is small and isolated (Minton et al. 2011). The known distribution includes the waters of the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan and India with potential for occurrence in other states of the North Indian Ocean region, but so far almost all data comes from Oman (Mikhalev 2000, Baldwin 2000, Minton et al. 2011). Research completed over the past two decades in Oman provides compelling evidence that the ASHW population is the world's most isolated and genetically distinct population of humpback whales, separated from conspecifics for an estimated 70,000 years (Pomilla et al. 2014). It is also the smallest and most endangered subpopulation of this species. The available scientific data clearly indicate that ASHWs remain within the Northern Indian Ocean year-round and are isolated from Southern Indian Ocean populations (Minton et al. 2011, Pomilla et al. 2014). However, their movements within the Arabian Sea remain poorly understood, due to a lack of dedicated research effort in any range state other than Oman. Humpback Whales in all other populations migrate between distinct feeding and breeding grounds that are typically separated by thousands of kilometres, and it is reasonable to assume that ASHWs engage in at least some level of transboundary movement between the waters of the range states where they have been documented to occur. This is supported by a recent record in 2017 of a female whale recorded with satellite telemetry crossing from Oman to India, and back. The tracked whale, after spending a few weeks engaged in small-scale movements in the Gulf of Masirah (Oman), then suddenly headed across the Arabian Sea to a location just off the coast of Goa, India reaching later the southernmost tip of India, before returning to Oman. There are two records of this species northwest of the UAE in the Arabian Gulf. It is still reported in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, but nearshore development and fishing pressure may have reduced its former range here (Baldwin 2005) and it is more often recorded in the Arabian Sea though even here it is rare. Globally, the Humpback Whale is found in all the major ocean basins. All subpopulations except the one in the Arabian Sea migrate between mating and calving grounds in tropical waters, usually near continental coastlines or island groups, and productive colder waters in temperate and high latitudes (Reilly et al. 2008b).

This species has been recorded in UAE waters in the western Arabian Gulf and in the Gulf of Oman (<a href=""http://seamap.env.duke.edu/"">OBIS-SEAMAP</a>; Halpin et al. 2009). The species is an occasional visitor to Abu Dhabi Emirate and has no known foraging or nesting sites there (EAD 2016). Within the region, the presence of Olive Ridley turtles has been also reported in the waters of Iran (Tollab et al. 2015), in Bahrain (Abdulqader and Miller 2012), and in Kuwait (Bishop et al. 2007). The first recorded nesting by this species in the Arabian Gulf was in May 2013 at Nayband Marine-Coastal National Park in Iran (Tollab et al. 2015), which is also the most northerly nesting account for the species in the Western Indian Ocean. Nesting activity at this site is believed to be very low.There are seven known confirmed records for the UAE: two from Abu Dhabi, one from Dubai (a rescued animal), two records from Ras Al Khaimah, and one from Khor Kalba. Satellite tracking found that turtles from Masirah Island passed along the eastern coast of UAE on the way to waters off the coast of Pakistan and Iran. No breeding in the UAE is recorded.Globally, this species has a circumtropical distribution, with nesting occurring throughout tropical waters except the Gulf of Mexico, and migratory circuits in tropical and some subtropical areas (Atlantic Ocean -“ eastern central, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, western central; Indian Ocean -“ eastern, western; Pacific Ocean -“ eastern central, northwest, southwest, western central) (Abreu-Grobois and Plotkin 2008). Nesting occurs in nearly 60 countries worldwide. Migratory movements are less well studied than other marine turtle species but are known to involve coastal waters of over 80 countries. With very few exceptions they are not known to move between ocean basins or to cross from one ocean border to the other. Within a region, the species may move between the oceanic and neritic zones or just occupy neritic waters (Abreu-Grobois and Plotkin 2008).

Photographic evidence of a stranded individual at Al Bidiya, Fujairah, in October 2000, indicates that Kogia sima occurs off the east coast of the UAE and it is known from adjacent Omani waters to the south (Baldwin 2005). An earlier record from the Arabian Gulf was erroneous (Baldwin et al. 1999). A boat-struck individual whale, identified as this species by the Emirates Marine Environment Group, was found dead on the beach at <a href=""https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/environment/group-chances-upon-dead-sperm-whale-in-dubai-1.655977"">Palm Jebel Ali, Dubai, July 2010.</a> Globally, this species appears to be distributed widely in offshore waters of tropical and warm temperate zones (Taylor et al. 2012b).

Sparsely distributed in desert areas and not recorded in the mountains. Mostly known from the deserts of Abu Dhabi and also recorded from sites near the coast at Jebel Ali (Jongbloed et al. 2001, Aspinall et al. 2005). It is occasionally seen in Sharjah Emirate but has not been seen in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR) for several years (G. Simkins pers. comm. 2018). It is most commonly seen in protected areas away from human activities and is scarce outside protected areas. It is a very difficult species to trap in Sherman traps (though easier in cage traps) and details of the distribution are unclear. This species is widespread in the Arabian Peninsula and inhabits sand desert and stony steppe (Harrison and Bates 1991), and found throughout North and Northeast Africa, to southwestern Iran (Amori et al. 2016b).

Until very recently there was only one anecdotal report of this species in the UAE, from western Abu Dhabi Emirate (Gasperetti 1967). The first confirmed records were obtained on 30 October 2015 on the eastern side of Wadi Wurayah National Park (N.P.) in Fujairah Emirate, when an animal was photographed by camera traps set up as part of a monitoring programme (Chreiki et al. 2018). Porcupines were subsequently camera-trapped in November 2015 and again in November 2016, and there was a visual observation by a park ranger in March 2017. Interviews with 26 farm owners and workers elicited a further eight direct reports of sightings all near farms or roads on the eastern side of the National Park (Chreiki et al. 2018) and locals confirmed that the species had been in the area for 30-40 years. The species was also recorded in December 2017 at Mirfa in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi (R.M. Al Zaabi pers. comm. 2018) and there is another recent record from Barari, Dubai. Subsequent inquiries have revealed a record from 1997 or 1998 of a porcupine feeding after dark at a bag of waste from a small company overnight picnic site in Fujairah (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2018). The nearest record of this species in the region is at Hayma on the Jiddat Al Harasis in south-central Oman (Harrison and Bates 1991), about 600 km away. In the Arabian Peninsula, the species occurs in southern Oman, southwest Yemen and western Saudi Arabia as well as the northwest of Arabia and in Iraq (Harrison and Bates 1991). This species has been recorded from Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean through the Middle East to Central Asia, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka (Amori et al. 2016).