An overview of the Terrestrial Mammals of UAE with emphasis on bats by Dr. Jacky Judas

About the speaker:

Jacky Judas is a naturalist, interested in all biodiversity and nature conservation related topics, but more specifically on birds and mammals. He was born in the North of France, where he grew up, quickly became interested in natural history, and started studying biology. After a master in Land planning and environment management in Lille, he spent the year 1991 on Amsterdam Island, part of the French Antarctic and subantarctic territories in the middle of the Indian Ocean, studying penguins and albatross. From 1993 to 1998, he studied the ecology of Collared Peccaries in the tropical forest of French Guiana for his PhD, and moved to Saudi Arabia in 1998, working at the National Research Center of Taif on the reintroduction of the Houbara Bustard up to 2003. He moved to UAE in 2004, where he continued working on the Asian Houbara Bustard for the National Avian Research Center of Abu Dhabi, travelling through Kazakhstan, China, and Yemen to study the species ecology and assess population status. In 2012, he joined Emirates Nature-WWF, working as Research manager on the implementation of Wadi Wurayah National Park in Fujairah Emirate, conducting surveys on Odonata, Owls, and bats through the Hajar Mountains, and implementing different conservation projects throughout the country, in Wadi Shis and Al Bithnah in particular. He left UAE in 2021 to move back to Saudi Arabia, where he is now working as Wildlife conservation manager for Soudah Development Company in the Asir region.

About the talk:

Despite being in an arid environment, UAE holds a relatively diverse terrestrial mammal fauna, with 51 species, distributed among 8 orders and 21 families. Rodents and bats are the 2 orders that present the largest species diversity but have so far been poorly investigated. Bats are important players in the ecosystems functioning and have recently focused the attention of the media due to their possible involvement in the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. The UAE mammal fauna is also characterized by an important number of introduced and/or invasive species, some of them becoming established. During this talk, we will review the diversity of mammals that have been recorded in UAE, briefly going through the different species, their status, and distribution, and discussing the ecological implications of the introduced populations. We will then explore the world of bats more deeply, with some generalities on this order, the state of knowledge and threats on their populations in UAE, and how to study them.