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THE last LEOPARDs IN OMAN

written by TONY WALSH
photographs by TONY WALSH
and OFFICE FOR CONSERVATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT,
DIWAN OF ROYAL COURT

Ahead of us, unseen and silent, walked an Arabian Leopard. Its tracks clear in the dust and an occasional, very fresh, scat confirming that we were not far behind. I was with Hadi al Hickmani, a researcher with the Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court. He is fortunate to work researching his passion Panthera pardus nimr, the leopard whose sub-species name comes from its Arabic name. Stretching through some 300km from the Yemen-Oman border in the west to the great escarpments of Jebel Samhan that rise to over 2,000m in the east, the mountains of Dhofar overlook the Arabian Sea to the south and the sea of sand, the Rub al Khali, to the north. It was in these mountains that Hadi and I were following the big cat.

The mountains in Dhofar are limestone, underlain by an igneous base that in parts extrudes through in great orange ridges of granite. In the most fortunate of sea-facing slopes, wind and moisture of the monsoon allow a cloud forest to develop and the steady drip of water from leaves adds to surface run-off to create pools of water, a magnet for many animals and, of course, their predator. For the most part, however, mountains in Dhofar are arid, dissected by great valleys and until recently isolated from human encroachment. Today, development is changing the landscape dramatically: rough roads bulldozed through the landscape are often paved a few years after their creation so that in time even small family cars can travel into areas that only ten years before could only be reached after a several day walk. Buildings inevitably follow these roads and in time a town might exist to serve a growing population.

Like its Asian cousins the Snow Leopard and Persian Leopard, the nimr is a mountain cat. Human activity such as roads, housing, livestock herding and hunting have fragmented its original habitat; and now small populations exist in the western mountains of Saudi Arabia, the mountains in Yemen, Dhofar in Oman and possibly in the mountains of Musandam in northern Oman and the UAE. The Red List, which classifies the survival chances of the world’s natural inhabitants, gives the cat a ‘critically endangered’ listing (the last step before extinction in the wild), and I was astounded that somewhere ahead of me was one.

Our walk took the better part of a day through undulating mountain slopes. Hadi and I were lucky that with the onset of the monsoon season in Dhofar we were often under cloud cover rather than the heat of the desert sun. The route that we were on was a busy one for the natural inhabitants of the area, for bird tracks occasionally showed up and smaller less easily identifiable markings zigzagged here and there. Early on in the walk Hadi pointed out to me a quill, long with alternating cream and brown bands, from the largest rodent in Oman, the Indian crested porcupine. On the edge of the track a small flock of Arabian Partridge, prey of the nimr, flew away. Close-up their colouring of grey, black, white and red is quite striking and yet they were effectively invisible on the side of the track until some took flight. Interspersed with the leopard track and the others was that of the Arabian Wolf. This wolf is generally found singly or in small family groups, rather than the larger packs of other wolves.

I found it difficult to differentiate between the tracks of the wolf and nimr; the animals are similar in size. As we followed the signs Hadi felt almost certain that there were in fact two cats ahead as there were two distinctly different sized prints, one smaller than the other, perhaps a male and female or a mother and big cub. The male may have a territory of 300sq km, which overlaps with the smaller separate ranges of several females through which he prowls keeping out potential rivals; was he on an inspection call with one of his females? The nimr is probably the smallest of the world’s leopards with a body length of up to only 90cm, weighing perhaps half of an African leopard at around 30kg, though a female is considerably smaller. Its colouring is a muted butter-yellow with the distinctive rosette spots from head to its surprisingly long tail. Despite this comparatively small size the nimr is now the apex hunter in Arabia, for lions and cheetah that once were found in the peninsula are now just memory.

Although as an adult the leopard now has no natural enemies, its young have numerous potential predators: foxes, hyenas and the wolves are all potential killers of cubs in Oman. The offspring are born deaf and blind and it is only from the second week that they become mobile. Because of their vulnerability, a mother nimr will relocate her cubs several times until they can travel with her independently. For perhaps two years a cub will remain with its mother, absorbing the skills needed for survival as an adult. During this period the mother will not reproduce again. The time between births results in a very slow potential natural population increase, making the overall numbers very vulnerable to natural or man-made threats. Like leopards the world over, the nimr is an opportunistic hunter and its natural prey includes Nubian Ibex, Rock Hyrax, mountain gazelle, Arabian Partridge and perhaps that rather prickly porcupine. It is this natural flexibility that adds to its success but also, as in many parts of the world, brings it into direct contact with humans. As people spread through the mountains they and their livestock squeeze out many wild animals. And this means that a nimr’s normal prey has been substituted by one owned and protected by humans.

Researchers like Hadi use camera traps to help identify individuals, for like fingerprints the patterns of spots on a leopard’s fur are unique. These are set up in areas, such as the one we were in, where nimr are known to travel through. A simple mechanism triggers a camera exposure and, with luck, the portrait will be of the cat. A more general survey involves simple tracking programmes, not so dissimilar to my day with Hadi, observing animal signs and taking note of any that are from a leopard. All this research suggests that there are less than 100 nimr in the Dhofar mountain range. This small number represents the majority of the total world’s population of nimr, meaning that Oman has an exceptional role to play in the survival of the leopard and that it is one of the rarest mammals in today’s world. More modern technology comes into play for a more detailed insight about individual animals. Radio collars are attached to the animals and their extraordinarily convoluted roaming pattern can be studied – perhaps identifying the core of a territory or where they may come into contact with human inhabitants of the mountains. But knowledge is just the foundation to the nimr’s survival. The key elements will be for the local human population to have a role in its future, perhaps through accepting the loss of small numbers of livestock in the way that they accept an animal’s death through illness or if they can be educated about the possibilities of how leopards might be financially beneficial to them through tourist related activities. The nimr’s need for space is another factor stacked up against its chances. There is space in Oman but ensuring that the area is the leopard’s rather than it being the interloper in a land of human activity should help create a long term future for the animal.

On our walk the cat’s prints disappeared as enigmatically as they had appeared. We returned home without a sighting, but were related to have seen the evidence that the Arabian leopard still walks through the mountains of Dhofar.