Our heritage
Welcome to Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve
Experience DDCR
Try your hand at falconry, ride a camel or simply hike through our unique desert surroundings
Learn more when you visit
Drop by our visitor centre to learn more about DDCR, our history, resident species and more
ABOUT DDCR
At Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, we work to protect Dubai's last desert wilderness and its native plants and animals.
THE CHARISMATIC TEN
The desert is teeming with life, and you’ll be amazed by how plants and animals have adapted to living in what can be a harsh environment at times.
Oryx leucoryx
Al maha, al baqr, al barra
N/A
Description
The Arabian Oryx is uniform white, while the flank stripe is absent or only an indistinct smudge. The lower limbs are a chocolate brown to black with the exception of pure white patterns. The face and nose have dark patches and there is often a dark stripe that runs under the neck to the forelegs. In summer dark patches are lighter and often absent altogether. Calves are a uniform brown colour.
Among the many local names used to describe the Arabian Oryx is Al Maha. Female Oryx weigh about 80 kg and males about 90 kg. Occasionally males may reach 100 kg. In good grazing conditions Oryx may live to 20 years. In drought life expectancy is greatly reduced.
Range and Habitat
Arabian Oryx once occurred over all or most of the plains and deserts of the Arabian Peninsula.
Breeding
Female Oryx may conceive at just over 12 months old. Male Oryx may be mature by two years but in the face of competition from other males are unlikely to start breeding until at least three years. Oryx may calve in any month of the year but there is a general pattern of births in the winter period December to April. This is thought to be largely the consequence of winter rains influencing conception. Most female will calve annually, provided adequate food resources are present.
After 18 months of drought females are less likely to conceive and may be unable to suckle their calves. Births are usually single with only one case of twins since the reintroduction began in 1982. Birth sex ratio is usually 50:50 (male: female) and in the wild under normal conditions the sex ratio of the population is 50:50. Gestation Period is usually about 8.5 months.
Gazella arabica
Al idhmi, Al gazal al jabali
N/A
Description
Of all gazelle species, the Arabian gazelle is the most slender. The coat is fawn to dark-brown on the back, neck and head, while the belly and buttocks are pure white, separated on the flanks by a dark narrow band. The coat is short, sleek and glossy in summer, reflecting much of the sun's radiation. In winter the pelage is much longer, dense, rainproof and not glossy. Desert subspecies show less seasonal variations in their pelage.
The face has two conspicuous white stripes extending from the eyes towards the nostrils with dark-brown to black lower margins, coupled usually with a black spot on the muzzle above the nose. The male's horns are quite long (22–29.4 cm), while those of females are generally shorter (5.8-11.5 cm).
Desert subspecies are only 12-16 kg, longer-legged and with a relatively longer body and ears than mountainous subspecies. Arabian gazelle can reach speeds of 65 km per hour if in danger. Their diet comprises grasses, herbs and shrubs, depending on the habitat.
Range and Habitat
At present Arabian gazelle remain along the Red Sea coast and in the Asir Mountains in Saudi Arabia, on the Farasan Islands in the Red Sea off the southwest coast of Saudi Arabia, along the coast and mountains of Yemen and Oman and in the United Arab Emirates.
Arabian gazelles live in low altitude mountains, sometimes in very steep (up to 45°) terrain, but avoid rocky areas and walking on rocks. They prefer plateaus, hilly relief, foothills and valleys between mountains and open habitats or areas with light forest in gravel or sandy plains, but also occur in regions of real desert and coastal dunes.
In Arabia, they usually live on rough terrain of mountain beds, gorges, and rolling hills.
Breeding
A single fawn is born after a gestation period of around 180 days. Gazelles living in deserts can breed throughout the year, but there are two birth peaks: in spring (March - May) and in autumn (October). The life-span is 13 years in captivity and not more than 8 years in the wild.
Tracks and Signs
Rams mark their territory by urinating and defecating on middens.
Gazella marica
Al gazal al rheem
N/A
Description
Unlike most gazelles, females of this species are mostly, although not always, hornless, while males boast long, elegantly curved, lyre-like, black horns that diverge outwards and turn back in at the tip. Interestingly, horn development in females increases from Mongolia and China, where they are almost completely hornless, to the Arabian Peninsula, where they have well-developed horns.
They vary in colouration between populations, from nearly white to brown with different tones of grey, red or yellow. Generally, the very light brown colouration of the back darkens towards the flanks, where it meets the white under parts in a crisp line, and the black colouration of the first two thirds of the tail contrasts starkly against the white of the buttocks. Eyes are large and black, and the ears are long. Legs and neck are relatively long and the tail is quite short.
Males are larger and heavier than females, weighing up to 22kg.
Endangered Status
Vulnerable.
Range and Habitat
The species is now locally extinct in many regions, including Georgia, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria and Yemen, and near extinct in Jordan. A wide variety of desert and semi-arid habitats are occupied. They occur in flat and rolling areas, but prefer foothills with broken grounds, and mountain valley and plateaus, avoiding rocky cliffs, thick woody vegetation, and lands used for agriculture or intensive livestock grazing and areas devoid of gullies and ravines.
Breeding
Gestation period is 5-6 months with most births happening between March and May. It is the only antelope in this area that often give birth to twins. The young spend their first days in shallow scrapes or under bushes until they are strong enough to move with the adults.
Tracks & Signs
This gazelle leaves a track much like any other in the sand and the dung is also very similar too. While Tracks left on harder surfaces are slightly longer.
Vulpes vulpes arabica
Al taleb al ahmer
Canid
Description
The Arabian Red Fox is similar in colour to the common Red Fox. However, it is more adapted to desert life than its parent species and is a brownish pale red colour. The throat is black and abdomen white. The lower legs and ears are reddish, with a reddish-brown bushy tail, tipped in white. Its ears are much larger, and its body is much smaller than that of the Red Fox. It also has fur between its toes, to prevent burning of the feet on the hot desert sand.
Habits
This fox is a solitary animal with well defined home ranges. Its diet consists of rodents, birds, and fish as well as some desert vegetation or even carrion. They are most active at night. Their average weight is 2.7kg - 4.5kg.
Range and Habitat
The Arabian Red Fox is found throughout the UAE and can adapt to all habitats, from desert to mountains, as well as the urban environment. However, it does not seem to penetrate areas such as the Liwa Desert with soft sand and high dunes.
Breeding
The vixen (female fox) can have up to five cubs usually in the spring in a den dug into the sand under a bush. She will then suckle the cubs for up to two months before they start to forage with her, later dispersing to establish their own territories.
Tracks and Signs
Pawprints show distinctive claw marks and are dog-track like in shape.
Uromastyx aegyptia leptieni
Dhub
Reptile, Lizard, Agama
Description
A large lizard that can live for up to 80 years and grow to 65cm in length, it has a spiny tail which it will use in its defence. They are able to changes their skin colour through the day. In the mornings, when they are cold, they are a dark grey. The dark colour absorbs the solar heat, which warms them up quickly. Once optimum body temperature is reached they turn light sandy beige which then reflects the sunlight and prevents them from over heating.
The Dhub is preyed upon by the Desert Monitor and large birds of prey, such as eagles, as well as by man. Bedouin considered the tail of the Dhub a delicacy which they roast over a fire before eating.
Range and Habitat
Found only in the UAE and Oman, they live in loose colonies on hard substrates such as gravel plains into which they can dig their deep burrows. They will then utilise a territory around their burrow to graze the shrubs and bush, as the adult Dhub is 99% herbivorous.
Breeding
Not much is known about its breeding. Males can be observed fighting from May – June (below centre), after which courtship of females commences
Tracks and Signs
Their dung is darker when fresh and lightens as it dries out. Dhubs most often leave an unmistakable track, dragging their tails as they move across the ground. The bottom jaw of a Dhub shows the bony plate of 'teeth' it uses to chew.
Varanus griseus
Warel
Reptile, Lizard, Monitor
Description
The largest lizard in the UAE it grows to 120cm of which the majority is its tail. Sandy in colour with darker speckling, it blends in superbly in the desert environment. One of the most aggressive reptiles in the UAE: when threatened they will inflate their bodies with air and hiss loudly. It will then use its tail in a whip-like action for self defence as well as giving a painful bite which will often become infected. The monitor is an active hunter and will eat anything it can catch and overpower; this includes other reptiles, small mammals, birds and even carrion.
Range and Habitat
Although predominantly desert-dwelling, the desert monitor occupies variety of arid and semi-arid habitats including clay steppe, savanna and riverbeds up to elevations of 1,300 meters. Subspecies Varanus griseus griseus is found from the Rio de Oro in the Western Sahara, east to Egypt and northern Sudan, its range also extends throughout the Arabian Peninsula, and from there, north to south-eastern Turkey.
Breeding
The female will lay eggs in an underground burrow and leave them to hatch by ground heat. Males grow larger than the females.
Danaus chrysippus
N/A
N/A
Description
Medium-sized (wingspan 60mm), with orange-brown wings, bordered with black. Apex of forewings black with white bar and spots. Hind wings with black spots. Male with four, female with three on each wing. Side of the thorax black with white spots. Antennae are clubbed.
Breeding
Males generally have large hair pencils that release pheromones during courtship and procure sexual pheromones by feeding on several withered plants. Eggs are flattened domes with prominent ribs. Larvae will pupate underneath leaves or in between bark.
Range and Habitats
Larvae feed on Sodom’s apples and fire bush (part of the milkweed family), which results in them being poisonous. Caterpillars and adults are brightly colored. Widespread in the UAE.
Tracks and Signs
Pupae are hardly seen, in between the think foliage of the fire bush, being small and light green and white perfectly camouflaged.
Tribulus arabicus
Zahar
N/A
Botanical Description
Perennial, stems branching from base, up to 70cm high, with ascending and spreading stout greyish-green branches, woody at the base, densely hairy.
Leaves
Grey-green, opposite, one leaf half the size of the other, leaflets oblong with pointed tips.
Flowers
Large, 1.5 to 2cm across, solitary, yellow, 5 petals, 5 sepals, on 1cm long stalk from the leaf nodes.
Fruit
Densely hairy, with 5 unequal wings, shallowly toothed edge, underside of stems.
Flowering
From February to September.
Habitat
Stable sand and sand plains.
Distribution
Common and widespread in sandy regions.
Uses
There are no records of its use in the UAE.
Bubo ascalaphus
Al Buma
Bird, Raptor
Description:
The Pharaoh Eagle Owl is a fairly large owl, its body length is around 50 cm and can weigh up to 2.3kg. Females are large and heavier than males. When adult, their feathers are cinnamon or ginger in tone, with a lower breast and belly noticeably barred. Its eyes are yellow to deep orange.
Habits:
They are primarily active between sunset and sunrise, hunting mainly on small vertebrates such as rodents, lizards, and smaller birds, but also insects and scorpions. During the day, they can be found perched in trees or roosting in mountain crevices and cave entrances.
Habitat:
These owls can be found in mountains, cliffs, rocky outcrops, and sand desert with large trees and shrubs.
Breeding:
The Pharaoh Eagle Owl is a resident breeder in the UAE, nesting in the winter period between December and April. Males and females pair for life, having a clutch of 2 to 4 eggs at a time. In the first month when the eggs are laid, the female incubates the eggs alone while the male hunts and supplies the food. Once the eggs are hatched, both female and male share feeding duties until the hatchlings leave the nest. Nests can be found in mountain crags and crevices, Ghaf trees, Prosopis cineraria, or inside large desert shrubs such as the Broom Bush, Leptadenia pyrotechnica.
Tracks and Signs:
One clear indication a Pharaoh Eagle Owl is present in an area is by finding its pellets, generally containing small bones from small invertebrates and insect carapaces. Another sign of Pharaoh Eagle Owl presence is by coming upon their distinct yellowish-orange, beige, and brown feathers.
Torgos tracheliotus
Al Nasr
Bird, Raptor
Description:
The Lappet-faced Vulture is one of the largest vultures in the world. These vultures weigh between 6 to 9Kgs, have body lengths of around 1 meter, and wingspans of about 2.5 meters. When adult, their feathers are overall blackish-brown and their feet and legs are white. As indicated in the name, their heads and forenecks are unfeathered with loose folds of pinkish-white skin.
Habits:
They are mainly active during the day, using thermals, pockets of warm rising air, to move around and detect carcasses from high up above. Capable of soaring for long periods of time, they are able to travel several hundreds of kilometres without stopping. As scavengers, they primarily feed on carrion. In the DDCR, they are frequently recorded feeding on Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx), Arabian Gazelle (Gazella arabica) and Sand Gazelle (Gazella marica), carcasses.
Habitat:
These vultures can be found in mountains, rocky wadis, semi-desert steppes, and desert with large trees and shrubs.
Breeding:
Lappet-faced Vulture nests can be found on top of large flat-top trees, such as Umbrella Thorn Acacia, Vachellia tortilis, and in crevices and crags on mountain slopes. Vulture pairs build large stick nests and refurbish them annually. Usually a single-egg clutch can be found in nests, but two-egg clutches can also occur. Males and females share responsibility for incubation, providing shade to hatchlings, and chick rearing. The incubation period is about 2 months and chicks fledge around 4 months after hatching.
Tracks and Signs:
Large blackish-brown feathers are often found in areas where vultures congregate, indicating that the vultures preened themselves and stayed in the area for an extended amount of time. Another clear sign of vulture presence is their distinctively large, four-toed, pointed claw tracks.
THINGS TO DO AT DDCR
Book our approved excursions and set off on an adventure in nature
OUR RESEARCH
At DDCR, we ensure the preservation of biodiversity on the reserve through continuous data gathering and research