The Queen of Sheba's gazelle or Yemen gazelle (''Gazella bilkis'') is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . There are also seven species included in two further genera; '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third former subgenus, ' ...

. It was sometimes regarded as a subspecies of the

Arabian gazelle The Arabian gazelle ''(Gazella arabica)'' is a species of gazelle from the Arabian Peninsula. There are approximately 5,000 – 7,000 mature individuals in the wild.IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group. 2017. ''Gazella arabica''. ''The IUCN Red List ...

, which is no longer a valid species. It was found on the mountains and hillsides in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, but none have been sighted since 1951, when five specimens were collected in mountains near

Ta'izz Taiz () is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. As of 2023, the city has an estimated p ...

, where it was reportedly common at the time. Surveys in the area of their former occurrence have failed to find any sign of its presence.Mallon, D.P. and Al-Safadi, M. 2001.Yemen. In: D.P. Mallon and S.C. Kingswood (compilers). 2001. Antelopes. Part 4: North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Global Survey and Regional Action Plans, pp. 63-68. IUCN, Gland. In 1985, a photograph of gazelles was taken in a private collection, Al Wabra Wildlife Farm, in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. Zoologist

Colin Groves Colin Peter Groves (24 June 1942 – 30 November 2017) was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist. Groves was professor of biological anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Education Born in Englan ...

claims these could possibly be surviving Queen of Sheba's gazelles.Research in Arabia, 1987 and 1992: visits to King Khalid and National Wildlife Research Centres (Saudi Arabia), Al Wabra Wildlife Farm (Qatar), Al-Areen Wildlife Park and Reserve (Bahrain) and Al Ain Zoo (United Arab Emirates). Downloaded on 29 December 2006 from It is not confirmed whether these animals truly belong to this species. The cause of extinction is still uncertain.

References

Gazella Extinct mammals of Asia Mammal extinctions since 1500 Mammals of the Arabian Peninsula Mammals described in 1985 {{eventoedungulate-stub