The first record for the UAE was in March 2018 when individuals were observed amongst a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins some 60 km east of Fujairah Port during a survey by the Fujairah Whale and Dolphin Project (Baldwin and Willson 2018).This is a tropical to subtropical species, which generally inhabits deep, oceanic waters of all three major oceans, rarely ranging north of 40'°N or south of 35'°S (Hammond et al. 2012b).

Occurrence in the Arabian Gulf was first confirmed from skulls found on UAE offshore islands in 1995; it has since been sighted 20 km off the city of Dubai and its range continues to at least 100 km west of Abu Dhabi and also stretches eastwards around the Musandam Peninsula into the Indian Ocean (Baldwin 2005). There are no confirmed inshore sightings from the Gulf, where the water is shallower. Spinner Dolphins are also known from deep water east of Fujairah Port and offshore from Kalba. Globally, the species ranges through tropical and subtropical zones in both hemispheres approximately between 40'°N and 40'°S (Bearzi et al. 2012, Braulik and Reeves 2018).

Fishermen from Fujairah claimed to encounter this species (Baldwin 2005), however, the first confirmed records for the UAE were in waters off the east coast in April 2017 during surveys by the Fujairah Whale and Dolphin Research Project. Mostly considered very rare in the Arabian region, this species has since been observed off Fujairah on several occasions, including in mixed groups with <a href=""http://fujairahwhales.com/striped-dolphin/"">Spinner and Pantropical Spotted Dolphins</a>. The species has not been observed along the Gulf coast. Globally, this is a widely-distributed species, found in tropical and warm-temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, as well as many adjacent seas (Hammond et al. 2008b).

The only UAE records of this species are a skull collected on the Gulf coast in 1973 (Baldwin 2005) and individuals observed off the coast of Fujairah during a survey by the <a href=""http://fujairahwhales.com/pantropical-spotted-dolphin/"">Fujairah Whale and Dolphin Research Project</a> in 2017. Baldwin et al. (1999) collated references to this species from the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea. Globally it is found in all oceans between about 40'°N and 40'°S, although it is much more abundant in the lower-latitude parts of its range (Hammond et al. 2012a, Kiszka and Braulik 2018).

All records are from the east of UAE, in and around the Hajar Mountains and at the rocky outcrop of Qarn Nazwa. Recorded localities include Al Ain and Jebel Hafeet (Abu Dhabi); Qarn Nazwa (Dubai); Dibba and Wadi Wurayah National Park (N.P.) (Fujairah); Al Khatt, Rams (Ras Al Khaimah); Khor Kalba (Sharjah) (Judas et al. 2018). During a bat survey of the Hajar Mountains in early 2018, a total of 36 individuals were caught at four sites (Jomat et al. 2018). In Arabia, this species is restricted to Oman and UAE (Harrison and Bates 1991). Globally, its range extends to Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan (Harrison and Bates 1991, Molur et al. 2008).

Skeletal remains of this species have been found in the Gulf on island beaches in western Abu Dhabi (Baldwin 2005). There was a stranding reported from Sir Bani Yas in 2013/2014 and a possible sighting in Dubai in 2015. It is reported off the east coast but was not recorded on surveys in 2017-2018 by the Fujairah Whale and Dolphin Project. There was a sighting of an injured individual in 2012 off Dibba (Musandam). Globally it is found in tropical to warm temperate zones, generally in relatively deep, offshore waters of all three major oceans (Taylor et al. 2008, Baird 2018).

This is the most widespread and one of the most abundant species of bat in the UAE (Judas et al. 2018). There are records from many localities, including coastal areas and islands of all emirates. The species is widespread in Arabia and was described as 'abundant' by Harrison and Bates (1991). Globally, the species is widespread in Africa and Europe, the Arabian Peninsula, Middle East and the Caucasus to Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and India (Juste and Paunovic 2016).

There are a number of records of Leopard in the mountains of the northern UAE and it is once likely to have occurred widely there. Thesiger (1949) wrote that a Leopard visited Jebel Hafeet ...some years ago. There is a report of a Leopard shot in Masafi, east of Sharjah, in 1962 (Harrison 1968) and another report from Qalidda Pass (Harrison 1971). Hellyer (1993) said there had been nine reports in the previous 30 years. These included one wounded on Jebel Hafeet in 1976, which later died in Al Ain Zoo; a male shot in Ras al Khaimah in July 1986; a female and two young adults in the same Emirate in December 1986, and the capture of one Leopard near Masafi in February 1991. A leopard was shot in the upper part of Wadi Zibat, a tributary of Wadi Bih with permanent water, in November 1992 and its skull retrieved, and another was shot in the same locality in May 1993 (Hellyer 1993). A Leopard was killed in the Al Wa'eeb area of Musandam in 1994 and another was seen there in August 1994 (Hellyer 1994). Since then there have been a few reports of Leopard tracks in the mountains, including at Hatta, but none of these has been confirmed. Summaries of Leopard status in UAE are provided in Aspinall et al. (2005) and Edmonds et al. (2006). There is no convincing evidence to indicate that the species is still present in UAE. Reports from the Omani sector of the Musandam Peninsula continued through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including eight killed in 1980, but with no confirmed reports since 1997 it appears that the species no longer occurs in the Hajar Mountains of Oman (Spalton et al. 2006). Leopards are widely distributed across Africa and Asia, but they have been extirpated from large portions of their historic range (Stein et al. 2016). Populations across the Arabian Peninsula are at critically low levels (Mallon and Budd 2011).

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).