Iconic Palestine mountain gazelle now endangered, say scientists ...the animals could soon go the same way as their closest relatives who once lived in Syria and Egypt and are now believed to be extinct.

The Palestine mountain gazelle – under threat from loss of habitat, predation and collisions with road traffic. Photograph: Alamy

Numbers of the gazelles, whose habitat is in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories – including a population that lives in the hills on the outskirts of Jerusalem – have dropped to about 2,000 identified individuals.... Just 200 of the animals survive in Turkey.

 “The damage to the gazelle population stems from the chopping up of their habitats due to construction, paving of roads and erection of fences."...... "It is therefore vital to maintain contiguous open areas and ecological corridors, especially in gazelle habitats."