Israel's "Jurassic Park"

The Chai Bar Animal Reserve is not a zoo but a biological park dedicated to rescuing and reintroducing endangered desert wildlife and biblical creatures back into the Negev. We wrote about the predator section of Chai Bar in a previous post. But the most thrilling experience at Chai Bar is an auto safari tour into some of the 10,000 acres of the reserve to see its herbivorous animals and ostriches up close.

When we were there in early April the safari tour was at 4:00PM, but you should call to double check because this safari is the best part of Chai Bar. One does not often get to see herds of wild desert animals up close. And the ostriches are perhaps the closest thing on can get to a Jurassic Park experience this side of Stephen Spielberg's movie.

An Oryx in the Chai Bar Reserve (Click for full size image.).

It must have been truly amazing in the days when these animals ran wild in the Negev to see a group like this.

A small herd of adult and baby Oryx together with a female ostrich.

The Addax, while not native to the Negev, is in danger of extinction, so the Chai Bar's efforts at preservation will not result in the release of the animal back into the wild in Israel.

A herd of Addax

The onager, the brown Asian wild ass, can be distinguished by the dark stripe down its back. It has been successfully reintroduced to the Negev and wild herds can be seen in Machtesh Ramon and the surrounding area in the summer. In the winter the herds disperse over large areas.

Onager, the Asian wild ass

But the most bizarre and pre-historic looking of all the animals in the preserve are the ostriches. The ostrich, which cannot fly, is the largest and fastest of birds, able to run at speeds up to 45 mph. It also lays the largest egg of any living bird. It uses its wings to balance and maneuver while running at high speed. The female is a bland grey, but the male is prized for its colorful black and white tipped feathers, and it has a flaming red skin color, all of which make it look like a pre-historic beast when seen in the wild of the Arava Valley.

Female ostrich

Male ostrich

The ostrich's huge two-toed foot (the only bird to have two toes), which looks like it came off a dinosaur, and its propensity to attack automobiles on the safari make for a great "Jurassic Park" experience for the children. Be prepared to roll up your window fast!

The Ostrich's huge, two-toed foot is used to propel itself at high speed and to strike viciously at enemies. You do not want to be on the wrong side of this toe. VERY prehistoric!

A Jurassic Park moment at the Chai Bar Preserve.

The ostrich is a biblical animal, mentioned in the Book of Job by Elihu son of Barachel the Buzzite in his reprimand of Job for doubting the moral order of the universe (Job 39):

13: Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? Or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? 

14: Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, 

15: And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. 

16: She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear; 

17: Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding. 

18: What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

The ostrich lays its eggs on the ground where they may be trampled. The male also mixes up eggs from different nests, so the mothers do not know which is theirs. ("She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear.") And when the male is frightened he will rise suddenly without regard for the eggs which he sometimes sits on and will heedlessly crush them. (Sounds like the perfect national bird for the mythical Palestinian state.)

The ostrich's eye is larger than its brain.

The eye of the ostrich is larger than it's brain, partly giving rise to the thought that they are witless. ("Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.") But in addition they engage in actions that seem silly and stupid to us. They are attracted to shiny objects, which may be why they "attack" and peck at automobiles on the safari tour. Ostriches will eat just about anything found shiny on the ground, and they have been found to have coins, earrings, jewelry, and even spark plugs in their stomach.

An ostrich attacks a "shiny" car at the Chai Bar Nature Preserve

In ancient times ostriches were hunted down by a group of riders closing-in on the ostrich from all sides. The ostrich would run madly back-and-forth between the riders until, exhausted, it would lay its head on the ground. This is where the expression "burying your head in the sand" comes from during times of trouble, for it looks like the ostrich has done just this as its captors approach. But this may also be a ruse, since the ostrich's most vulnerable body part, the long neck by which it may be captured, is kept out of harm's way. But as soon as the riders close in for the kill the ostrich is up and away using its great speed to out distance them. ("What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.")

Ostrich photo set

The Chai Bar Nature Reserve - definitely worth a trip on its own, but its proximity to Eilat makes it a bonus for a trip there.

  

Leopards and Wolves and Foxes (Oh my!) - The Predators of the Chai Bar Nature Preserve

About 40 kilometers north of Eilat on Route 90 lies the remarkable Chai Bar Nature Preserve. This large and open preserve sits in the red heart of the Arava Valley, surrounded by the Red Mountains of Jordan and the sandstone cliffs of the Israeli Negev. It is home to a variety of wild life that used to flourish in Israel and that are mentioned in the Torah.

Descending from the High Desert of the Negev to the Arava Valley, red as the heart of a watermelon, the Red Mountains of Jordan face us on the other side. (Click for full size images.)

The predators, snakes, birds and small creatures are all housed in a glassed-in area that opens to the desert all around, giving a sense of space to the cages while still protecting animals and visitors alike.

The predators are some of the showcase animals of the preserve. Wolves and foxes, nocturnal creatures for the most part, are still found in the desert. The wolves travel in small packs of 3-4 while the foxes are mostly solitary. They can be seen at night by the careful observer at the edges of developed areas in the desert. The wolves and foxes are no fools and want their meal as easy as the next fast-food junky. They hang around farms and garbage dumps looking for an open chicken coop or food waste. If you travel off-road with a four-wheeler and a bright (1 million watt) light, you can see their eyes and ghostly bodies reflected in the beam.

Desert wolves at the Chai Bar Animal Preserve

Blue-eyed, large-eared, bushy-tailed desert fox (Click to see his eyes better)

The prize predator in all of the desert is the leopard. It is hard to believe that an animal so closely associated with the African forest is to be found in the Negev, but Sinai and Israel used to be filled with them. As G-d tells the Israelites in the desert:

28And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.  -- (Exodus 23)

 The leopard, top predator in a parched land

It is currently unknown how many wild leopards remain in the Negev, but estimates run around seven. A few years ago one broke into a home in the Kibbutz of Sede Boquer where the owner, who happened to be a naturalist whose expertise was the leopard, threw a blanket over it and managed to wrestle it to the ground while waiting for help. The animal died soon thereafter, as it must have been very sick to even try breaking in to an occupied home. The only place that signs are placed about wild leopards today in Israel is at the Dead Sea, but none have been seen there in years.

Desert leopard (Panthera pardus).

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages... Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. - Shakespeare,"As You Like It"

The leopard is amazingly agile and fast. This one bounded into the bower of the tree in three lithe leaps (he did it faster than you can say it :) first into the notch, second into the bottom of the bower, finally into the bower itself, all in one smooth motion. Well camouflaged, you are dead meat should you walk beneath.

Can you find the leopard in the tree?

In our next post we will write about the safari experience at Chai Bar and Jurassic Park!