During the month of July most of the Dorcas gazelle population in the Eilat District was counted by the Nature and Parks Authority.  A decrease in reproduction was seen (whether due to reduced births or to lower fawn survival) throughout the entire population - apparently due to deterioration in the state of acacia trees as a result of several arid years in a row in the southern Negev.

The Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas) is a species that originated in the Sahara desert and is adapted to desert life.  It is found mainly in the southern Negev, where its main diet is the acacia trees.  The population in the southern Negev constitutes most of this gazelle's population in Israel.

The Dorcas gazelles in the Yotvata preserve west of the Arava Road are protected (along with the critically threatened Arava gazelle Gazella gazella acaiae) against predators, and their population has gradually risen from 83 in 2006 to 135 in 2007 and number 181 by this year's count.

To fill out the picture, a count will be held at the Hai Bar preserve, but it already appears that the gazelle total in the Eilat district remains stable. 

Information courtesy of Dr. Benny Shalmon, Eilat District Ecologist