The dromedary
The animal-emblem of the country is the dromedary. The camelid has not existed in the wild since the Roman period, but its origins lie in the Arabian Peninsula. The Saudis domesticated it to use it as a draught and transport animal. It has accompanied the Bedouin in their daily lives since time immemorial. The fastest individuals participate in races and the most graceful in beauty contests. The King Abdul Aziz Camel Festival held in February in the Dahna desert has more than 30 million dollars in prizes. Each year, 30,000 animals from the best farms in the peninsula participate. The beauty of a camel is appreciated by observing its coat which must be clear and shiny; its neck which must be long, slender and elegant; its head which must be large and proportionate to the rest of the body; a hump which must be large, straight and placed as close as possible to the animal's backside. Racing dromedaries are equally pampered, as they can bring in a lot of money for their owners. Dromedary racing is the favorite pastime of the Saudis. A racing camel must be light, have small legs and long legs, a broad and powerful chest and a long tail. The camels are fed an athletic diet of dates, milk, honey, corn and fodder, which keeps them slender and strong. A racing camel can cover 40 kilometers in one hour and reach a top speed of 70 km/h. Many races are held in Riyadh and its surroundings between November and March or in Taif in August during the Crown Prince's Camel Festival. To afford a racing camel, one must be prepared to invest at least US$60,000. But the price of an heir to a champion lineage or multi-prize-winning cracks can reach 30 million dollars! Traditionally, camels are ridden by jockeys, often children because of their weight. But accidents are numerous and now many races are remote controlled. A remote-controlled whip is installed on the saddle, and the trainers follow the race from a car that drives up the edge of the racetrack at the pace of their mount. The Crown Prince's race in Taif has the highest prize money with a first prize of $14 million.
The mammals of Saudi Arabia
Extreme climatic conditions, urbanization, intensive hunting and off-road driving are all factors that greatly harm Saudi Arabia's wildlife. A general lack of interest in wildlife has resulted in little study and preservation of wildlife in the country. Besides the more common large mammals and birds, little is known about the wildlife. The wild lions, cheetahs and donkeys of Syria have completely disappeared from the peninsula. They were mentioned in pilgrims' texts to Mecca.
The Arabian tahr is a strange mammal of unknown origins, at the crossroads between the goat and the sheep. Cousin species are found in the Himalayas and the Nilgiri in southern India. The tahr is an endangered species that lives in the eastern Arabian Peninsula, from Oman to the Emirates to Saudi Arabia. Its preferred habitat is rocky terrain.
The Arabian wolf is the smallest known wolf species. It has adapted to the harsh desert climate and lives alone or in small packs. There are only 2,000 to 3,000 individuals left in Saudi Arabia. The species is seriously threatened and hunted by the Bedouins who try to protect their herds. It is still sometimes seen in the regions of Najd and Tabuk.
The fennec is the smallest species of fox. It is recognizable by its sandy coat and large ears. It endures extreme heat and drinks little. Adapted to its environment, it feeds on insects, small mammals and birds. It can live up to ten years in the wild.
The caracal is a feline relatively widespread from the Middle East to Central Asia and northwest India. It can measure up to 50 cm high at the withers and weigh 19 kg. It is recognizable by its reddish coat, its long pointed ears ending in feathers and its long and sharp canines. A nocturnal animal par excellence, it is very difficult to observe.
The striped hyena has practically disappeared from the Saudi surface and even from the globe. It is considered close to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The same is true for the golden jackal or the badger.
The sand cat is the only wild species living in the Saudi desert. It is found in the western part of the country, but it is difficult to observe, as it moves mostly at night. Its sand-colored forage provides a perfect camouflage during the day. It has very hairy legs, which prevents it from burning itself when it comes into contact with the sand heated to white by the sun. It spends most of its days sleeping in a den and comes out at night to hunt.
The rock damsel is a small mammal that looks like a large guinea pig or a small marmot. It hides in rocky crevices to escape its predators. The rock damsel should be handled with extreme care, as it can transmit leishmaniasis, a crippling and even fatal parasitic disease.
The Cape hare is recognizable by its very long ears that allow it to hear danger coming from afar and by the white circle around its yellow eye. It is acclimatized to desert regions and feeds on grasses and brush at night.
The Arabian oryx is a sand-colored antelope with very long twisted horns. Emblematic animal of the Middle East deserts, it was hunted to extinction in the 1970s. It was reintroduced following a conservation program initiated by the Phoenix Zoo in the United States. A 2,200 km² protected and enclosed area, Mahazat as-Sayad, has been established in Taif province. Other species such as the goitered gazelle and the red-necked ostrich are also part of a conservation program in the same reserve.
The Arabian leopard is also receiving special attention. There are only 200 individuals left in the entire Arabian Peninsula. In Saudi Arabia, it is found in the Asir Mountains. A special safeguarding program has been initiated by the government. Babies were born in captivity for the first time in 2021. The leopard has been reintroduced in the Taif region and studies are being conducted to restore and preserve the vegetation essential to its habitat.
The birds of Saudi Arabia
Prey of choice for hunters, the avian fauna of Saudi Arabia is also threatened and rare. Among the birds native to the peninsula are the sergeant Ganga or sand grouse, quails, eagles, harriers and larks. On the coasts you can also observe pelicans and seagulls. The mountains of Asir are home to some rare species such as the griffon vulture, the Verreaux eagle or the Barbary falcon. Further south, in the wooded areas near Yemen, one can observe in the fragile branches of juniper trees, linnets, thrushes, warblers and African flycatchers. The surprising and rare grackle nests in the Wadi Turabah nature reserve. This is the only place where this bird, a member of the Pelecaniformes family, can be seen on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Saudis are great lovers of birds of prey and the richest among them devote a fortune to breeding them. There is even a specialized clinic, the Falcon Medical Research Hospital in Riyadh.
The flora of Saudi Arabia
Very little studied, the flora of Saudi Arabia is known as a whole, but its distribution areas are poorly known. Nearly 3,500 varieties of plants have been recorded, with a good thousand in the Asir mountains alone, which benefit from a much higher rainfall than anywhere else in the peninsula. The only nature reserve renowned for its flora is located in the province of Ha'il, northeast of Medina. It is the protected area of Jabal Aja. Most of the plants found in Saudi Arabia are stunted grasses or scrub. Very few varieties of trees are seen and the date palm is the only one that seems to acclimatize fully to the latitudes of the Arabian Peninsula.
The eastern side of Saudi Arabia receives most of its annual rainfall in March and April. These waters revive the perennial plants which complete their life cycle in only three months: flowering, germination, seeds. By May, the vegetation disappears. In the desert areas, the rare plants are concentrated at the bottom of the wadis, the bottoms of canyons. In the hostile desert of Rub' al-Khali, only 37 varieties of plants have been identified and there are no trees. Prosopis and some varieties of acacia can nevertheless be observed on the margins of this desert.
The most varied and dense vegetation grows in the Asir Mountains. Temperatures are lower there due to an altitude between 2,400 and 3,100 meters and a higher annual rainfall equivalent to that of the city of Marseille. In the highest parts of the mountain range grows a cloud forest with juniper, Arabian euryops, Abyssinian rose, euphorbia and lichen. Around 2,500 meters, among the evergreen trees, we can mention the wild olive tree or the camphor tree. Below 2,000 meters, the soil is covered with succulents, acacias, commiphora, thorny shrubs, and grewis, an ornamental plant with purple flowers.
