The Queen of Sheba's gazelle or Yemen gazelle (Gazella arabica bilkis), is an extinct subspecies of the Arabian gazelle, which is also extinct. It is sometimes regarded as a species in its own right: Gazella bilkis. It was found on the mountains and hillsides in Yemen, but none has been sighted since 1951, when five specimens were collected in mountains near Ta'izz, 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. In 1985, a photograph of gazelles was taken in a private collection, Al Wabra Wildlife Farm, in Qatar. Zoologist Colin Groves claims these could possibly be surviving Queen of Sheba's gazelles. It is not confirmed whether these animals truly belong to this species.
Famous quotes containing the words queen of sheba, queen and/or sheba:
“Happy are your wives! Happy are these your servants, who continually attend you and hear your wisdom!”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Kings 10:8.
The queen of Sheba to Solomon.
“O Queen of air and darkness,
I think ‘tis truth you say,
And I shall die to-morrow;
But you will die to-day.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“When Sheba was his lass,
When she the iron wrought, or
When from the smithy fire
It shuddered in the water:
Harshness of their desire
That made them stretch and yawn....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)