Atlas Gazelle - Cuviar

In 1932 it was already considered one of the rarest gazelles.

Endemic to north Africa, the Cuvier’s gazelle is restricted to Morocco (and Western Sahara ), north Algeria and south Tunisia (Wilson & Reeder, 1993; De Smet, 1991; Loggers et al., 1992). A distribution map was drawn on the basis of some recent available literature sources, such as Kingdon (1997); Anonymous (1994); Loggers et al. (1992) and De Smet (1991). Dr. R. East ( 23 June ‘97 ) suggested using a "possible" label throughout its range.

It occurs in a wide variety of habitats in hilly terrain, including oak and pine forests, grasslands and stony desert plateaus. Cuvier's gazelle is both a browser and a grazer, eating herbs and shrubs in the summer, and in the winter, green grasses. It can utilize water from plants as well as dew, but it needs to visit waterholes frequently. Normally the gazelles spend the day in the hills, descending to the valleys to feed at night or in the early morning. It lives in widely spaced territories, where males attend one or more females and their young, and generally occurs in groups of 3 - 5.

Earlier this century, Cuvier's gazelle was still quite widespread in the higher elevations of the mountainous regions of Morocco, including the Middle and High Atlas, extending beyond the latter almost to the Atlantic coast. It also occurred in Algeria and western Tunisia. In 1932 it was already rare. In 1972, only some small herds were left in various parts of the Atlas Mountains. It was thought probably to have been exterminated in Morocco, but this turned out not to be the case. Currently it survives in a series of small populations in highland areas of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Loss of habitat due to continuous expansion of pastureland for livestock and deforestation for agriculture or charcoal appears to be the main threat for this species now.

Categorical-discrete (CD) distribution model

The species occupies a variety of short maquis and open forest habitat types, it also lives in stony desert (Loggers et al., 1992; Aulagnier & Thévenot, 1986a; 1986b; Kingdon, 1997).