Tag Archive for Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel

| November 6, 2018
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Palestinian Official: ‘Israel stole our snake’

After Israel chose the daboia palaestinae to be its national snake, the Palestinian Authority protested the move, calling it an act of ‘theft’ and an affront to preserve ‘Palestinian identity’.

By Dalit Halevy

 

Last Thursday, Israel’s Society for the Protection of Nature and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority named the Palestine viper as Israel’s national snake.

The Palestine viper, or daboia palaestinae, was selected based on an online vote.

Geographic distribution of Daboia palaestinae: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria – Photo: Wikimedia/rbrausse

Found across the Levant, from the northern Negev and western Jordan in the south to northern Lebanon and central Syria in the north, the snake is common throughout most of Israel, and in Hebrew is referred to as the ‘common viper’, or ‘common Land of Israel viper’. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| April 15, 2015
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WATCH: Endangered Mediterranean Monk Seal Seen Unexpectedly in Third Visit to Israel

View movie clip of Rare Monk seal swimming on Israel’s coastline to hunt fish.
• Photographs confirm that this is the 3rd sojourn by the same endangered seal since 2010.

By Erez Erlichman

 

Israeli naval lookouts spotted something unusual on Monday off the coast at Rosh HaNikra – a highly endangered Mediterranean monk seal, which has become a rare sight in local waters.

Mediterranean monk seal make 3rd trip to Israel – Photo: Roei Segli

Photographs taken by experts revealed that it was not the marine mammal’s first visit to Israeli shores. The seal, which caught the navy’s attention when it crossed the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, bore scars that showed it had been seen near Israel twice before – once in 2010 in Herzliya, and again last summer in Rosh HaNikra.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| March 25, 2015
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Jerusalem to open Gazelle Valley, 60 acre urban nature park in city next week

A new urban nature park, the first of its kind, like a ‘Central Park’, but with ‘wild animals’, will open in the middle of Jerusalem this coming Monday.

By Hillel Fendel

 

After two decades of persistent public battle, the Jerusalem Municipality will be dedicating and opening this week an urban nature park, replete with gazelles, ponds, bicycle paths and more, smack in the middle of the city.

Gazelles – Thinkstock

The park, named Gazelle Valley, stretches over 60 acres (250 dunams), and is located between the busy Begin Highway, the Katamon neighborhood, and Givat Mordechai. The Central Park-like (New York) natural areas is also within walking distance of Bayit V’gan, the Malha Mall, and other residential neighborhoods. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,