Cheetah paintings

The very first record of the Cheetah in Arabia dates from 1950 and also this being in the photograph of the skin of your animal shot in Northern Saudi Arabia (1). There have been mentions of tracks and sightings just before that date. In 1950, like today people often mistook Cheetah for Leopard or Tiger. These combine of names are extremely common and even quite reputable newspapers is likely to make the error.

Cheetah paintings

You can find just two records for Cheetah within the Southern a part of Arabia. You are from Oman as well as the other from Yemen. The Yemen animal would be a ‘sighting’ of the animal in Wadi Mitan, South Yemen in 1963. The Oman record is from an animal killed by tribesmen in 1977 inside the Jibjat area of Dhofar
Even the IUCN Red List on the net states that the Cheetah painting is regionally extinct inside the United Arab Emirates and Oman. It states this without showing the species ever actually happened in the Uae and in line with the single Oman record. Within the comprehensive 1998 'Current Status with the Cheetah' mention is constructed of the single Oman specimen nevertheless the United Arab Emirates does not get a mention as an area of former distribution. Holiday in Africa - read more