Meeting Abstract

1.11  Friday, Jan. 4  Energy Expenditure and Water flux of Free-living Sand Gazelles in Saudi Arabia WILLIAMS, J.B.*; OSTROWSKI, S.; Ohio State University; National Wildlife Research Station williams.1020@osu.edu

Arabian sand gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa marica; 12–20 kg) occur naturally in the northern deserts of Saudi Arabia, and in the Rub’ al-Khali, one of the driest regions in the world. In 1990, they were reintroduced into Mahazat as-Sayd, a protected area 160 km north-east of Taif, Saudi Arabia. Gazelles have no access to drinking water apart from ephemeral pools that occur in the desert landscape after infrequent rains. We have studied the foraging time, energy expenditure, and water turnover rate of this desert ungulate in central Saudi Arabia. Using doubly labeled water we showed that for 7 gazelles daily energy expenditure was 5,432 kJ/day and water turnover was 596 mL/day. In the laboratory these same gazelles had a resting metabolic rate of 1666kJ/day and a total evaporative water loss of 132 g/day.