The Barcelona Zoo is in luck with the birth of a dama moldor gazelle (Nanger dama mhorr), a species native to the subdesert regions of southern Morocco and Western Sahara that is currently in critical danger of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The precise animal was born on February 7, it is a male, and he is the son of one of the females in the group and the reproductive male. His health is good and these days he can already be seen interacting with the rest of the group, with his mother always close to him.
For the director of the Barcelona Zoo, Sito Alarcon, “this birth is another success of the Zoo’s efforts with species conservation.”
Alarcon highlights the importance of specific programs for the recovery of this species, programs in which “Barcelona Zoo has been collaborating for some time because among its objectives is the recovery of the biodiversity of a region highly threatened by climate change and human pressure such as the Sahel.”
The Dama Moldor gazelle is a rare subspecies of the Dama gazelle that lives in the subdesert regions of southern Morocco and Western Sahara. The main threats it suffers in its natural habitat are indiscriminate hunting and the loss and degradation of the natural environment due to excessive grazing and livestock farming.
This species of antelope became extinct in its natural habitat, but in 1971, the Arid Zones Experimental Station of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) began a captive breeding program that made its reintroduction to Senegal possible (Special Reserve). of Guembeul Fauna), Morocco (R’Mila Royal Reserve) and Tunisia (Bou-Hedma National Park).
The success of this CSIC program also provided a boost to the implementation of an EEP ex situ conservation program of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) which has ensured the continuation of the species. However, currently, the dama molder gazelle is critically endangered.
The Barcelona Zoo actively collaborates in these two reintroduction programs for the Lady Moldor gazelle.
