Summary Between April 1981 and December 1984 aerial surveys were conducted in the northern Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the Lake Xau area and a larger area in southwestern Botswana. Range conditions were monitored in the northern Central Kalah, ri Game Reserve. The migration of wildebeest to surface water at Lake Xau was documented. Since the Kalahari wildebeest population has had severely restricted access to surface water for decades and this access is steadily diminishing, it is inferred that the existing population is smaller than it used to be and can be expected to decline further in the future.

In this paper we describe our survey methodology for detecting old nesting sites and an extant colony in Syria, and analyse the causes of the decline and current threats. This study was undertaken within the framework of an Italian-funded, FAO-implemented project (GCP/SYR/ 009/ITA) based in Palmyra, Syria, with the aim of assisting the Syrian authorities in promoting biodiversity conservation and developing the first operational protected area, Al Talila, in the country. The search for a possible northern bald ibis colony began in March 2002 on the basis of an account given by a local hunter. A total of 33 field surveys were carried Abstract The eastern population of the northern bald ibis Geronticus eremita had been presumed extinct following the loss of the colony in Birecik, Turkey, in 1989. However, occasional sightings of birds in Yemen, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Israel during the 1980s and 1990s suggested that there was still a colony somewhere in the Middle East. Intensive field surveys in spring 2002, based on the knowledge of Bedouin nomads and local hunters, revealed that the species has never become completely extinct on the Syrian desertic steppe. Following systematic searches 15 old nesting sites were found, one of them still hosting an active breeding colony of seven individuals. The species appears to have been relatively common in the area until 20 years ago, when a combination of overexploitation of rangelands and increasing hunting pressure initiated a dramatic decline.

Over the past 20 years or more fences have been erected around the part of the Kalahari that lies in Botswana without thought about the impact on the wildlife. Over the years the fences have taken a massive toll of animals whose traditional migration routes to water have been sealed off. The authors, who have been working in the Kalahari since 1981, examine the current situation and suggest some of the possible remedies that are so urgently needed.

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Karyotypes of Saudi gazelle (2n = 47 female, 2n = 50/51 male) are presented for the first time. The three karyotypes shown here vary in the numbers of metacentric chromosomes, but the cause of this variation is not yet known. Although Saudi gazelle are often regarded as a subspecies of Dorcas gazelle, the chromosome numbers and karyotypes of Saudi gazelle are too different from Dorcas gazelle (2n = 30 female, 2n = 31 male) for them to be considered a subspecies. It is also unlikely that these species would interbreed. In view of the present findings, the taxonomic status of this highly endangered gazelle needs to be resolved as soon as possible.