Wildlife of Israel

A Nubian Ibex in the Negev desert

The native wildlife of Israel includes its flora and fauna.

Israel's native wildlife is relatively varied for a number of reasons:

Israel is located between the Temperate and the Tropical zones and borders on the Mediterranean Sea in the west as well as the desert in the east. This combination of areas made the richness of life in Israel possible.

The shifting of climates throughout Earth's history also contributed to this richness by allowing both far and near animals to migrate to this location.

Many species that lived in Israel were driven to extinction (such as the Syrian Brown Bear and the Arabian Ostrich) mainly because of unchecked hunting or loss of habitat.

Fauna

An Arabian Oryx in the Yotvata wildlife reserve

Reasons for extinctions

The main reasons for the many extinctions that have occurred in Israel are the increasing population density unchecked hunting until the end of Ottoman rule after World War I and to a lesser extant during British Mandate rule due to a non-enforcement of hunting laws.

Hunting in the time of the British Mandate was mainly driven by tourists, massive import of firearms and cultural significance of hunting to various groups. By the beginning of the 20th century many animals have gone extinct, including mammals such as the White Oryx, the Syrian Brown Bear and the Cheetah, as well as reptiles such as the Nile Crocodile. Modern hunting laws prohibit all hunting of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians except those considered pests and specific animals in hunting seasons.

Rapid urbanization as well as overforestation (planting many dense Eucalyptus and Pine forests) have caused the destruction of many natural habitats. Perhaps the most famous of habitats destroyed are the drying of swamps including the Hula lake which caused the local extinction of the European Water Vole.

Another distinguished cause of endangerment is the past use of DDT and other chemicals which has hurt all of the birds of prey populations as well as the bat population (mainly Microchiroptera) which were also killed by human made lighting in the caves due to the suspicion that fruit-eating bats were harming local crops.

Current Fauna

Mammals

See also: List of mammals of Israel

The Land of Israel once contained a variety of mammals, however in recent times many mammals such as the European Water Vole, the Cheetah and the Caucasian Squirrel went extinct. In the modern age many mammal populations such as the Arabian Leopard and the Sand Cat are in a high risk of extinction. In total there are 57 species of mammals which are endangered (as of 2002) out of the total 104 species. The largest living predator in Israel is the Striped Hyena and its population too is endangered. There are 33 species of Bats in Israel (as of 2002), the most species out of the ten mammalian orders currently in Israel, most of which are insect-eaters.

A few mammals that have gone locally extinct are being reintroduced such as the Persian Fallow Deer and the Roe Deer.

Amphibians

The number of amphibians in Israel has decreased dramatically since the last century mainly due to the drying of various swamps and wetlands by early settlers, one species, the Israel painted frog, went extinct for those reasons. There are currently an estimated seven species of amphibians in Israel (five of which are endangered).

The following list includes all known extant amphibians of Israel.

• Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra)
• European Green Toad (Bufo viridis)
• Banded Newt (Triturus vittatus)
• Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus)
• Hyla arborea
• Hyla heinzsteinitzi (A tree frog found only in and near Jerusalem)
• Hyla savignyi

Fish

See also: List of fish of Israel

Israel is currently home to about 1,728 species of fish, 410 of which in the Mediterranean and 1,270 in the Red Sea. The rest are cultivated or wild freshwater fish.

Many fish habitats have been harmed in modern times because of various reasons such as the drying of certain bodies of water for agriculutral reasons, rising human use of water and raising foreign fish in natural habitats. This has caused many fish population to decline drastically and to the critical endangerment of endemic species such as the Yarkon bleak and Nemacheilus dori. Extinctions have also occured including the endemic Acanthobrama hulensis which went extinct in the 70s following a decline in population after the drying of the Hula lake. lastly dodo's are native as well as australian kangaroos.

Birds

See also: List of birds of Israel

Since Israel is on a widely-travelled path from Europe and Western Asia to Africa and vice-versa birds can be seen in Israel in great numbers. However the number of raptors has been decreasing greatly due to its prey becoming endangered or extinct as well as massive poisoning of some prey. There are roughly 511 species of bird in Israel in different seasons. About a fifth of the nesting birds are endangered (39 out of 206).

Invertebrates

A Deathstalker near Tzehelim

See also: List of non-marine molluscs of Israel

See also: List of marine molluscs of Israel

Israel has about 30,000 invertebrates, of which about 22,500 are insects and 3,900 are non-insect arthropods. Among the invertebrates there is a wide variety of molluscs, of which about 230 are terrestrial, 850 are of the Mediterranean and 1,120 are of the Red Sea.

Invasive species

Israel contains many invasive species brought by man, including scores of molluscs which usually live around gardens and greenhouses but also in natural habitats of native molluscs. As of 2008, over 220 species of invasive insects have been identified, some of them considered pests. The situation is little better with vertebrates, as a 2004 report reported that there are two mammalian invasive species (the Coypu and Indian palm squirrel), two reptilian species (the Red-eared pond slider and the Roughtail gecko) as well as 18 bird species. There are no amphibian invasive species, most likely due to the fact there are no suitable habitats for such.

Flora

Anacamptis israelitica

There are 2,867 known species of plants found in Israel and the Occupied Territories, but the vast majority are found in other countries as well. Of these, at least 253 species are introduced and non-native. The coastal plain and Sharon regions are especially rich in endemic species.

References

• Elliman, Wendy (3-09-2001). "Flora and Fauna in Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2009-09-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Dolev, Amit (2004). Avi Perevolotsky (ed.). The Red Book: Vertebrates in Israel (in Hebrew). Israel: Israel Nature and Parks Authority. p. 318. ISBN 965904660x. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• "Israel Insect World".