Yemen has 71 recorded land mammal species representing eight orders including bats. About one third of the mammals are relatively large species which are rare in other parts of Arabia.
It is notable that seven mammal species are now considered endangered including three of the four species of gazelle, and another three species the Cheetah, Arabian Oryx and the fourth gazelle, the Queen of Sheba’s Gazelle are now extinct in the wild. Furthermore, most sizeable mammals have long since been hunted into extinction in this country where firearms abound and a large proportion of the natural forests have been cut down. With some dedication and luck, ecotourists may still spot rare land animals such as the Arabian leopard, hyena, Hamadryas baboon, honey badger, hedgehog, ibex, and fox.
For long time, large mammals have been under considerable pressure and some of which vanished from the country and most of the others became rare and threatened.
The Nubian ibex -Capra nubiana-, the Arabian leopard -Panthera pardus nimr-, Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx are and the three Arabian gazelles listed above are decreasing sharply and have became rare as a results of continues hunting and absence of protection, breeding and re-introduction programmes.
 |
List of species of mammals in Yemen |