Israeli mammals
Striped Hyena
Male ibex in the Black Canyon
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Israeli mammals
From ancient times Israel's native mammals have had an important role in Jewish culture,
featuring in colourful biblical metaphors and prophecies, as symbols of the tribes of Israel
or discussed at length in the dietry codes so central to the Jewish culinary tradition. The young
David battles a bear and a lion, and Samson struggles with a juvenile lion. Torah
scrolls are written on parchment from deer or antelope skins, the Jewish New Year
is commemorated by blowing on the ram's horn and the very Land of Israel itself is described as
the "Land of the Gazelle".
Sadly the local lions and bears are now extinct, but most of Israel's native mammals familiar
from the bible and folklore remain - the jackal and the gazelle, the rock hyrax
and the ibex,the wolf and the leopard, the wild boar and the
hare. The rapid pace of human development over the last 150 years has for the most part
not been kind to Israel's large mammals, but the last few decades have seen major conservation
projects which have brought many species back from the brink of regional extinction. Others
remain endangered, but protected by Israel's nature protection laws. Hopefully they too will
make a successful recovery.
Camels in the Negev desert
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And now for the camel question. I have had several questions from people who were
under the impression that in Israel our most common mammals are camels and that there are camels
running around all over the place. Well the only 'wild' camels you'll see roaming the desert in
Israel are in fact dosmetic herds whose owners allow them to roam. Others are old or injured camels which are no longer capable
of working and have been set free by their Bedouin owners. Some of these camels are still of
breeding age and so they have reproduced in the wild.
Keep an eye out for camels when driving in desert areas, esepcially at night, trust me,
you really don't want to run into one. Triangular hazard signs with a picture of a camel are
common along desert roads. Aside from these regions, camels aren't a very common sight, in fact
in most parts of Israel there are no camels at all- except in zoos. You're far more likely to see a donkey - though they're generally of the
domestic variety too. That's that out of the way.
Land of the ibex, hyrax and gazelle
Male ibex locking horns at Ein Gedi oasis national park near the Dead Sea
Out of Israel's large variety of four legged creatures, my
personal favourites are ibex,
hyrax and
gazelle.
The biblical verse "High mountains for ibex and rocks to shelter hyrax" (Psalms 104:18) aptly
describes where one might spot these creatures, and indeed most of the hyrax that I've seen have
been sheltered under or perched on top of rocks or bushes, while I've most often noticed ibex
on precarious mountain ledges.
The ibex is a kind of wild goat whose biblical Hebrew name is the ya'el.
They are common around springs in the Negev and Judean deserts, where they are most likely to be
seen nonchalantly walking along the edge of a high cliff or munching on desert foliage. Hungry
ibex may even be seen perched atop acacia trees attempting to nip of the juiciest leaves.
Their agility is breathtaking, they nimbly clamber
up and down even the steepest cliffs and most unstable scree slopes, walking fearlessly on the
precipitous edge of the deepest abyss. Sometimes I've come across them seemingly in the
middle of nowhere, out in the desert where there is no obvious spring, but evidently some water
source that only wiley ibex know about.
A few decades ago the ibex were on the decline but
thankfully they have been making a good recovery, thanks in part to the work of the Israeli
nature
reserves authority. Today Israel is home to the largest ibex herds in the world, making it
probably the easiest place to see these creatures in the wild. Since the 1970s ibex have been
re-introduced to parts of the Golan Heights in northern Israel. Their successful recovery has
made them one of the most commonly seen animals in Israel's desert regions and the National
Parks Authority has chosen an impressively horned male ibex as their official symbol.
Hyrax feeding on an olive tree
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Syrian rock hyraxes are widely believed to be the biblical shafan, also known
as the rock coney in English. The hyraxes of the Middle East are the only non-African members of
the hyrax family. They are certainly amongst Israel's cutest animals and they're fascinating to
watch. They live in family groups with one adult who stands guard while the rest of the group
feeds.
Their habitat reaches from the mountains of northern Israel all the way down the eastern
deserts and mountains to Israel's southern tip at Eilat. Some of the best spots to look for them
include the Ein Gedi oasis near the Dead Sea and the mountains of north-east Israel, near
Nimrod's Fortress or the Banias national park.
The hyraxes that I've seen in north-east Israel are noticably darker and bolder than those
that I've seen further south. The hyrax I've seen at Ein Gedi and at Ein Avdat have been a light
reddish brown, some almost orange, while those up north have been more of a rich chestnut or
dark brown, though I have seen lighter ones in the Golan Heights area too.
The gazelle is the biblical tzvi (its Hebrew name), an animal whose grace and
beauty symbolise the
Land of Israel, which is referred to as eretz hatzvi, the land of the gazelle. It is
also a synonym for beauty in general, the beauty of the beloved is compared to a gazelle in
several verses in Solomon's Song of Songs. Elsewhere in the bible the gazelle is a metaphor for
speed.
Israeli gazelle in snow in Jerusalem
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Gazelle are found in most parts of the country, the main exception being the densely populated
central coastal region. There are two main species of gazelle in Israel, the Israeli or Mountain
Gazelle, found in the northern two thirds of the country, and the Negev or Dorcas Gazelle which
lives in the southern desert regions. The two species overlap in the Dead Sea region. There is also
a subspecies of the Israeli Gazelle, endemic only to Israel, called the Arava Gazelle which lives in the southern Arava
desert feeding mostly on the Acacia trees common to this region.
Even in regions with large gazelle populations it is not usually that easy to spot them as these shy creatures tend
to be wary of people, perhaps because in many areas hunting has driven them to the very of extinction. The best time
of day to see them is often around dawn or in the early evening, when they take advantage of the cooler, quieter hours to
forage.
Wild Boar
Wild boar are perhaps Israel's most obnoxious large mammal, a lumbering creature
renowned for its grumpy temper. The males do occasionally damage property in rural areas,
uprooting trees or knocking down fences. It is certainly a creature to be approached with caution.
They were once plentiful in many parts of the country though since it has become
more densely populated and more developed they have retreated into the forests and more remote
temperate areas. They are most likely to be spotted up north, especially on the Golan, where in
spring you might see the female and her brood of curious offspring, their coarse bristles
spotted and mottled to camoflage them from predators. Boar in Israel are not usually hunted for
food as both Jews, and Muslims, the two largest religious groups in the country, consider them
unfit for consumption.
Carnivores
Caracal
While many of Israel's large carnivores such as lions and cheetahs were hunted
to extinction long ago, there are still many impressive predators left, though several, are
highly endangered.
Traditionally the maniacal cackling of jackals was a common nighttime sound in most
parts of the country. Today you're only likely to hear it on the outskirts of town where
there are plenty of undeveloped areas, forests or caves for them to hang out in during the day.
Jackals, similar to the American coyote, are definitely one of our spookier animals, not least
because of their howls, yaps and barks which sound like a cross between a wolf's howl and insane
laughter. They only come out at night, and, fortunately, they usually keep well clear of humans;
indeed, in the Bible they are a symbol of wilderness and desolation.
Blanford's fox
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Where food is plentiful they live in packs, but in some areas they go around in pairs.
They are scavengers but will also hunt small creatures and will also eat fruits and insects if
the opportunity presents itself.
I'll never forget coming face to face with a pair of them once in a village in northern
Israel. I was out for a very early Sabbath walk just after dawn when I noticed two large
yellowish animals with luxurious winter pelts standing by the path. I think the surprise was
mutual, we just stared at each other for a few seconds and then they turned and ran back into
the bushes. At night in the village we would hear their chilling calls right outside the dorms,
so close it sounded as though they might come inside at any moment. My early morning meeting was
the first time I'd actually seen a jackal.
Wolves are not common in Israel outside of sparsely-populated areas such as the desert
and some parts of the Galilee and Golan in northern Israel. They are severely endangered in
most of this region and to the best of my knowledge Israel is the only part of the Levant, or
possibly the whole Middle East where they are a protected species, much to the annoyance of
cattle and sheep herders.
Israel is also home to striped hyaenas, but like the wolf, their territory tends to be
restricted to areas which are sparsely populated, and is now most likely to be found in desert
areas such as the Negev, Arava and Judean Desert, although populations do exist throughout Israel,
save for the densely populated coastal plain and lowlands. My only clear sightings have been near the
British Forest, south of Beit Shemesh when I spotted one running through a roadside field and once
by the road near the southern desert town of Mitzpe Ramon.
The leopard, is Israel's only remaining big cat, though its future survival remains in
doubt, with only a few individuals left in the Judean and Negev deserts, and possibly no
surviving females. Other wild felines include
caracals, bog cats and
wild cats.
The latter in particular is threatened by the ubiquitous feral domestic cat
which plagues most urban areas in Israel, rather like racoons in north America or foxes in
Europe. Some of these feral domestic cats interbreed with wildcats (probable ancestor of
the domestic cat) creating hybrids, and infecting the wild cat population with diseases
previously common only amongst domestic cats.
The most common truly wild urban predator is the red fox, a rather drabber dusty
coloured cousin of the European species. They hang around the outskirts of towns, in fields,
even in many desert regions where they live alongside desert species such as Blandford's
and sand foxes.
Smaller predators include badgers, marbled polecats
stone martens and the snake and fish hunting Egyptian mongoose.
Israeli Wildlife |
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Copyright 2005 by Leiah Elbaum.
Text and photographs on this page are by Leiah Elbaum.
Last updated 26 June 2005.
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