The scientific community has paid little attention to Saharan wildlife.
I’m the chair of the non-governmental organization Harmusch Wildlife Research and Conservation, Ciudad Real, Spain.
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“EversincethefirsttimeIvisited,I’vebeeninlovewiththeSahara.ThatwasinMoroccoin2011,tosurveythesituationoftheSaharancheetah(Acinonyxjubatushecki).IamaconservationbiologistattheUniversityofGranada,Spain,andIquicklyrealizedtheimportanceofpreservingtheseforgottenanimals.It’sespeciallykeyinthecontextofclimatechange,toseehowtheyadapttodrought,forinstance.
ThescientificcommunityhaspaidlittleattentiontoSaharanwildlife.Almostnobodyknowsaboutthesandcat(Felismargarita),forexample.Thisbeautifulanimalhighlightsthechallengesthatallecologicalresearchfacesinhostileandremoteenvironments,suchastheSahara.MycolleaguesandIhavepublishedtheonlyscientificestimateofthesandcat’sabundance(J.M.Gil-Sánchezetal.Eur.J.Wildl.Res.69,20;2023).
Itisdifficulttoworkinsuchanisolatedarea.Wemusttakealotofcaretoavoidlandminesleftfromregionalconflic
