I'm currently planning a trip to the UAE for early next year. From what I can tell, regarding the animals at Al Qudra, they are semi-managed populations, i.e. they are fed by staff. So perhaps don't fully count as wild?
And the cranes seem to freely wander all around the country, as can be seen looking at the eBird map.I'm currently planning a trip to the UAE for early next year. From what I can tell, regarding the animals at Al Qudra, they are semi-managed populations, i.e. they are fed by staff. So perhaps don't fully count as wild?
Given that the article says that no one knows where they came from, that would certainly suggest that they are unmanaged.The maras only appeared in 2020 so I'd say they're probably too recently established as a population to know how well they will establish.
In general at Al Qudra I get the impression that there are some species like gazelles and oryx that are semi-managed (quite common in nature reserves in the middle east in my experience for the hoofstock to be managed) but I can't see anything about the maras being managed at all?
I came across Mara in the UAE a while back while trying to find out about Mara in Europe (the link is to the post on this thread Interesting/Little Known introduced populations)Quite an interesting one, I saw a news story last week reporting that there's apparently now an introduced and breeding population that may be as high as 200 common maras in Dubai!
Apparently they first appeared in 2020 and multiple small groups have been breeding in what looks to be a nature reserve/suburban park with artificial lakes on the edge of the city
There's a nice little video at the top of this AP article A desert oasis outside of Dubai draws a new caravan: A family of rodents from Argentina
I came across Mara in the UAE a while back while trying to find out about Mara in Europe (the link is to the post on this thread Interesting/Little Known introduced populations)
They're also in southern Wisconsin.There is a population of Eurasian tree sparrows concentrated in Saint Louis and a bit further to the north in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa.
I had not heard they made it that far north. Interesting!They're also in southern Wisconsin.
I’ve heard that there’s some out near the airport too. If so, they could be spread across most of Melbourne.I believe this hasn’t been said yet but there is an introduced population of Smooth Newts in the suburbs of South-east Melbourne and potentially further south towards the Mornington Peninsula. It was a bit of a local secret with the government trying to hide the exact location of said Newts but they were eventually located and posted onto iNaturalist. They originate from aquarium releases probably in the 90’s or 2000’s as they were first detected in 2011.
Not exactly a huge surprise, we have them in much colder places in the US.Found out today that there are two established populations of Mediterranean house geckos, Hemidactylus turcicus, in the north of England - the most northerly known populations in the world.
Both populations are living within buildings at universities - one at the University of Nottingham has been present since the 1970s, while the other at the University of Hull is estimated to have been established in either the late 1990s or early 2000s. Evidence of breeding throughout this time indicates that it is a true established population, and not simply escaped pets or stowaways.
This is a less obscure one, but there is an introduced population of Blue-naped Parrots in Tanjong Aru Beach next to the Shangri-la.