A Field Guide to the Mammals of Egypt. Richard Hoath

The Nile Delta and Valley

      It is all too common, particularly in the flowery language of the tour guide, to describe the Nile Delta and Valley as ‘timeless’ and ‘unchanging,’ yet this is far from the truth. Few parts of the world have been subjected to such prolonged and intensive human influence, and the present day Nilotic environs are a product of this influence. A cursory glance at the friezes in many of the tombs of the ancients serves to support this stance. Often the pharaoh or noble is portrayed hunting in a swamp of Papyrus Cyperus papyrus for Hippopotamus and Nile Crocodile Crocodylus niloticus. The former is now extinct in Egypt and the latter, since the late nineteenth century, is only found south of the Aswan High Dam. More recently, the Wild Boar Sus scrofa disappeared in 1912. These papyrus swamps are now entirely gone and the only remnant of the original Nilotic vegetation in Egypt now exists on the islands between Aswan and the Old Dam. This is now a Protected Area.

      Today, the Delta and Valley of the Nile support an almost entirely exotic flora courtesy of modern agriculture. One need not look any further than the crops grown today. Major crops such as cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet corn (maize), and sugar cane all originate in the Americas. Virtually all the trees seen in the urban environments are exotic and, in the rural areas, the ubiquitous Eucalyptus spp. are an import from Australia. In short, the ancient Egyptian would find the current Nile flora virtually unrecognizable. Familiar species such as Papyrus and Lotus Nymphaea lotus are virtually extinct in the wild.

      The current fauna of the Nile Delta and Valley includes the endemic Kassas’s Toad and the Egyptian Square-marked Toad Bufo regularis. Amongst the birds there are a number of species of African origin (for which the Nile has acted as a corridor north) such as the Senegal Coucal Centropus senegalensis, Senegal Thick-knee Burhinus senegalensis, and Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus. Other typical species include the Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus, Graceful Warbler (Prinia) Prinia gracilis, and Painted Snipe Rostratula benghalensis. Typical mammals include the Egyptian Mongoose Herpestes ichneumon, Striped Weasel Poecilictus libyca, Nile Kusu Arvicanthis niloticus, and the endemic Flower’s Shrew. Some mammals typical of the Delta appear to be African outposts of predominantly western Asiatic distributions, reflecting a cooler, wetter period where the Sinai was not a desert barrier. These include the Swamp Cat and the Bandicoot Rat. Mention should also be made of the commensals characteristic of the agricultural and urban areas. These include the House Mouse Mus musculus, Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus, and House Rat Rattus rattus. It is interesting to note that the Weasel Mustela nivalis is an almost entirely urban animal in Egypt.

      Above the Aswan High Dam, the Nile Valley has been inundated to form Lake Nasser. The shores of this lake are, for the most part, barren. However, the lake does support Egypt’s only population of Nile Crocodiles and probably the last remaining Nile Soft-shelled Turtles Trionyx triunguis. Egyptian Geese Alopochen aegyptiacus are common and Afro-tropical species such as Yellow-billed Stork Mycteria ibis, African Skimmer Rynchops flavirostris, and Pink-backed Pelican Pelecanus rufescens are regularly recorded. Jackals Canis aureus and Red Foxes Vulpes vulpes are regularly recorded from the shores and from the islands that emerge and disappear as the lake levels sink and rise.

      Six Protected Areas: Saluga and Ghazal Protected Area, Ashtum al-Gamil Protected Area, Wadi al-Rayyan Protected Area, Lake Qarun Protected Area, Lake Burullus Protected Area, and Nile Islands Protected Area.

Marine Environments

      Egypt has two coastlines, one bordering the Red Sea, extending north to the Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez, and one bordering the Mediterranean. Formerly discrete, these two marine regions are now connected by the Suez Canal though it is still unclear how much interchange there is between the biomes. Certainly there is no evidence that sea mammals are using the channel.

      The Red Sea is continuous with the Indian Ocean through the narrow Bab al-Mandab between Yemen and Djibouti. Further north, the Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez are very different in character: the former being much deeper than the latter and supporting richer coral reefs. The marine fauna of the Red Sea is essentially Indo-pacific and includes such warm water species as the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin Stenella attenuata, Spinner Dolphin Stenella longirostris, and Short-finned Pilot Whale Globicephala macrorhynchus. There are very few records of the great whales from the Red Sea and no records of any of the beaked whales. It may be that the shallow water that marks the Bab al-Mandab is a barrier to these deep-water species. The Dugong Dugong dugon is still found, though in much reduced numbers.

      The Mediterranean is also virtually a closed sea, connected to the Atlantic by the narrow Straits of Gibraltar. Its waters are too cold for reef-building coral species. As with the Red Sea, there are very few records of the great whales in the Egyptian Mediterranean and no confirmed records of the beaked whales, though Cuvier’s Beaked Whale Ziphius cavirostris could conceivably occur. The Mediterranean Monk Seal Monachus monachus was found along the Egyptian north coast but there have been no records of this species since 1921. With the wholesale development of the Egyptian Mediterranean coastline, it is highly unlikely that this species will return, though there is reportedly a very small population in Libya.

      Protected Areas: Each of the coastal southern Sinai Protected Areas extends into the marine environment. The Mediterranean marine environment has no Protected Areas though the lagoon at Zaranik is saline and Lake Bardawil is Egypt’s only designated RAMSAR site. Northern Red Sea Islands Protectorate.

Current Threats and the Status of Egyptian Mammals

      The present Egyptian mammal fauna is sadly a much-depleted one. As has been mentioned, within the last two hundred years several species, such as the Addax and Scimitar-horned Oryx, have disappeared completely while many others, especially the larger mammals, have suffered declines. Among the smaller mammals, the Four-toed Jerboa is a cause for concern and several of the bat and shrew species are known from very few specimens. Others such as the Zorilla and the Aardwolf are at the very edge of their range in Egypt and are probably naturally rare.

      The most obvious threat to the larger mammals, such as the Nubian Ibex and the gazelle Gazella species, is that of direct hunting. All these species are protected under Egyptian law, but the law is rarely enforced. This hunting is carried out by locals as well as foreign sport hunters, particularly from the Gulf. While hunting in certain strongholds of these species (such as the mountains of South Sinai) has now been controlled with the declaration of an extensive network of Protected Areas, in other, more remote regions it still takes place, such as in the southern Eastern Desert. With the opening up of the coastal regions of the Eastern Desert for tourism, these areas will become more and more accessible causing concern for the local wildlife.

      In a country with a rapidly growing population and finite resources, there is inevitable pressure on the environment and habitat destruction is a major threat to many mammal species. Nowhere is this more apparent than along the north coast and the Mediterranean coastal strip. This fragile habitat is disappearing rapidly as tourism advances inexorably and as concrete tourist village after concrete tourist village is constructed. Today, the entire coast from Alexandria to al-Alamein is developed and the development is creeping west at an alarming rate. Quarrying and mining also threaten this habitat. None of this coastline is protected. Inland, ill-planned agricultural development has turned what used to be relatively fertile semi-desert into true desert, as the shallow subsoil is loosened and exposed by plowing. The result is real desert good for neither agriculture nor wildlife. The coast of North Sinai suffers in the same way. The Zaranik Protected Area west of al-Arish at least preserves some of the natural habitat, though even here the vegetation is being denuded by overgrazing. Along the Red Sea coast, tourist development is proceeding at an alarming rate with new centers being developed south of Hurghada at Safaga, Quseir, and Marsa Alam. Except for the recently declared Wadi Gimal Protectorate, there are no Protected Areas along this coast until the Elba Protectorate in the very southeastern part of the country.