Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is known for its tall, modern buildings rising high above the desert. But an unusual animal from Argentina, the Patagonian mara, can be found there, too.
The animal, like a rabbit, has long legs and ears and a body larger than most other rodents. They have been found near the Al Qudra Lakes, which are usually home to gazelle and other desert creatures found in the Emirates, or UAE.
How they got there remains a mystery. But in the UAE, exotic animals have ended up in the private homes and farms of the wealthy.
The UAE’s Climate Change and Environment Ministry and officials in Dubai did not answer questions from the Associated Press (AP) about the Patagonian maras. But one estimate suggests that as many as 200 could be thriving in the area of the Al Marmoom Desert Conservation Reserve nearby. Few dead maras have been found.
An AP reporter found at least five maras on a recent visit to the Al Qudra Lakes, a wide desert area 40 kilometers south of Dubai. On another visit, the reporter saw several packs of the animals, including one mother still nursing a baby.
Al Qudra is at the end of a long bicycle path. It is popular in the winter months. Campers and others come to enjoy the outdoors in the cooler weather among the area’s lakes. Some of the lakes have been engineered into shapes like a moon, two hearts or as an advertisement for Dubai’s Expo 2020.
The Patagonian maras first appeared publicly in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. A request for information on their sightings was first published in an issue of the Dubai Natural History Group’s monthly newsletter. Volunteers described seeing them in Al Qudra and on Saadiyat Island near the UAE’s capital of Abu Dhabi.
“This large rodent is a common species in zoological collections and undoubtedly found its way out from captivity,” wrote Jacky Judas, who has long studied mammals in the UAE.
“They can regularly be seen sleeping or eating grass in the middle of roundabouts at Al Qudra…it can possibly survive in highly modified habitats with tree plantations, lawns and ponds,” Judas wrote.
Those words describe the environment found at Al Qudra and are probably the reason for the maras’ continued survival. But temperatures in the UAE regularly reach 45 degrees Celsius in the summer, making it a difficult environment.
The number of maras at Al Qudra suggests that they are breeding. Patagonian maras mate for life, and females can get pregnant only a few times a year. They can give birth to one to three babies at a time. In Argentina, the animals can be hunted and eaten, their fur used for rugs and blankets.
The Patagonian maras eat plants and are no threat to humans. There are few animals that might hunt them at Al Qudra. Arabian red fox do live and hunt in the area.
Patagonian maras normally live in central and southern Argentina. But they have been trafficked into areas as exotic pets in the past. In the United States, the appearance of one was covered by the local news in Denver, Colorado. In August, a Patagonian mara was found in a car about to enter Turkey from Greece. Officials discovered other animals in the suspected trafficking attempt.
It is illegal to keep endangered or threatened wildlife in the Emirates. But there have been many reports and social media videos of Emirati men in luxury cars with pet lions along for the ride.
I’m Mario Ritter, Jr.
