Satellite view of the desert along the Persian Gulf on the border of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia Photograph by USGS   Asia: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates Deserts and Xeric Shrublands   28,000 square miles (72,600 square kilometers) -- about half the size of Iowa Critical/Endangered

· Pockets of Life on the Persian Gulf
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Pockets of Life on the Persian Gulf

All along the Persian Gulf coast lies a low desert plain punctuated by red-brown dunes. This region, though dry and sparsely vegetated, harbors some important areas of wildlife habitat. Visit in the migration season, and you can spot a tremendous variety of waterbirds pausing on the coast as they travel between Africa and Asia. Head inland, and you'll come across green oases fed by artesian springs that are home to birds, marsh frogs, and more.

Special Features

Long, hot, rainless summers are the norm in this desert ecoregion, with frequent northerly wind stirring up sandstorms. Between 3 and 6 inches (75-150 mm) of rainfall reaches the region each year, but is not predictable. Expect hot temperatures if you visit--from 73° to 95° F (23°-35° C) in the winter to peaks of 122° F (50° C) in the summer. Most of this region was submerged off and on during the Tertiary Period, so its soils are made of ancient marine deposits. You'll find a thin sprinkling of shrubs across the plains, sand hummocks forming around the base of plants in sandy inland areas, salt tolerant plants and black mangroves along the coast, and a few intertidal mud flats and salt marshes. Coastal sands are much whiter than the red sands of the Dahna and Rub’al-Khali.

	Jackals are wolflike animals that come out at night to hunt and to "sing," emitting high-pitched howls that carry through the night air.

Wild Side

Black-necked grebes, great crested grebes, broad-billed sandpipers, and Saunders' little tern are just some of the migrating waterbirds known to breed or pause in this region during their annual migrations. More than 95 percent of the world's population of socotra cormorants breed here, too, and rare houbara bustards have been seen in both fall and winter. Humans use the inland artesian springs to cultivate alfalfa, date palms, and winter wheat, but wildlife is also attracted to these oases of green. Quails, spotted sandgrouse, and great gray shrikes all visit these areas, and Caspian pond turtles bask in the ponds. Mammals of the ecoregion include red foxes, cape hares, Ethiopian hedgehogs, and rare Asiatic jackals.

Cause for Concern

Oil spills are a constant threat to the wildlife of this region. Overgrazing by camels, sheep, and goats has degraded vegetation, including mangroves. Fishermen, recreational campers and divers, and the military can create disturbances for the region's wildlife.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.