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Hyaena hyaena | UAE National Red List of Mammals: Marine and Terrestrial

Publication
UAE National Red List of Mammals: Marine and Terrestrial
Location
Countries in Assessment
United Arab Emirates (the)
Country ISO code(s)
ARE
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Off
Scope (Assessment)
National
Taxon
Taxonomic Group
Vertebrates
Taxonomic Group Level 2
Mammals
Assessed taxon level
Species
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
Striped Hyaenas are believed to have been widely distributed in former times, but there are no specimens and reports are extremely sparse. It was reported present on Jebel Hafeet by Thesiger (1949); on the Al Ain-Dubai road, in Bani Yas and Liwa in the 1980s (Duckworth 1996); one was seen crossing a track between Awhala and Khor Kalba (Gross 1987); there was a report from villagers in Wadi Helo, near Kalba, in June 1996, and there is a probable sighting between Al Ain and Sweihan in December 1996 (Hellyer 1997). Spoor thought to be that of Hyaena was seen near the Shah oil field, south of Liwa in 1999 (Aspinall et al. 2005, Drew and Tourenq 2005). Residents of the higher part of Musandam said that hyenas used to occur there (Jongbloed et al. 2001). There have been no confirmed recent records and the species is no longer considered to occur in UAE. The international borders between Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE are fenced, except for some of the highest mountain areas, preventing or hindering movement, so natural recolonization of the UAE by the species is highly unlikely. The Striped Hyaena has a very large, albeit now patchy global distribution, extending across North, Northeast and East Africa, south to about central Tanzania, and through the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran, Central Asia, and northern Indian subcontinent (AbiSaid and Dloniak 2015). It has become rare in most parts of the Arabian Peninsula, mainly because of ongoing persecution (Mallon and Budd 2011).
Habitats and Ecology
Ecological system type
Terrestrial system
No
Freshwater system
No
Marine system
No
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
Occupies a wide range of habitats (Harrison and Bates 1991) where it persists globally. Solitary and nocturnal. No detailed information of its ecology in UAE is available, but presumed, based on its former distribution, to have occurred in rocky mountainous areas and in the desert.
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Assessed status
Asessment status in full
Regionally extinct
Assessment status abreviation
RE
Assessment rationale/justification
The Striped Hyaena is believed to have been widely distributed in former times in the UAE. It is assessed as Regionally Extinct for the UAE because there are no confirmed records and unconfirmed reports are very sparse, the last one dating from 1999. Fencing of international borders prevents or inhibits movements into UAE from neighbouring countries.
About the assessment
Assessment year
2018
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
URL (link) of redlist assessment or publication
https://www.moccae.gov.ae/assets/download/b352eff1/UNRL%20of%20Mammals%20-%20Report%202019.pdf.aspx?view=true
Endemism
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Conservation
Threats listed in assessment
All large carnivores are subject to persecution across the region by shooting, trapping and poisoning. Traditional stone predator traps in the Hajar Mountains (e.g. in Wadi Helo, Sharjah) are here called madhba, the name indicating that Hyenas were perhaps among the primary targets (Mallon and Budd 2011). The Striped Hyena also had an unjustified reputation as a grave-robber (Aspinall et al. 2005).
Conservation Measures

Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:

Further information
History
Records of this species in UAE are extremely sparse and there are no confirmed specimens. It was assessed as Extinct in the Wild by Hornby in 1996, however, there was a probable sighting between Al Ain and Sweihan in December 1996 (Hellyer 1997) and spoor thought to be that of hyaena was seen south of Liwa in 1999 (Aspinall et al. 2005, Drew and Tourenq 2005), and it is possible that animals persisted when Hornby published his work in 1996. We, therefore, revise the 1996 assessment to Critically Endangered (Possibly Regionally Extinct) (CR(PRE)). There have been no confirmed records since 1999, and the last unconfirmed report dates from 1999.