Flora
and Fauna
The Golan, synonymous
in the Bible (along with the Bashan) with a
heavily wooded area, was still covered with dense
woods and forests in the recent past.
Unfortunately, those forests have been cleared
for agriculture and grazing over the last few
generations, but in the northern part of the
Golan and in copses and thickets in the south,
the endemic trees of the region can still be
seen. The oak
A
jackal sniffs the
air on the Golan
Plateau.
Jackals are
Predators
that feed on carrion
and hunt small
mammals. |
and terebinth forests
of the Golan give rise to an impressive
landscape, the numerous deciduous trees lending
the terrain a European feel in the winter. In the
late winter and spring, the ground between the
trees is covered with blossoms from the rarest of
orchids to anemones, tulips, and a patchwork of
other wildflowers, some of Them unique to the
Golan. On the upper slopes of the Hermon range,
alpine meadows and vegetation can be found. There
the flowers bloom in early summer, in contrast to
the winter florescence in the rest of Israel,
making the Hermon a unique destination for nature
lovers.
The wildlife of the Golan is the most varied in
Israel. The human population on the Golan is
sparse, the region has relatively large open
areas, and significant segments of it have been
declared nature reserves. The Golan is a meeting
place for fauna that migrates north along the
Syrian-African rift from Africa and the desert
areas, fauna that makes its way westwards across
the steppes of Asia, and European fauna that
arrives from the north.
A
gazelle gracefully crosses
a road near Katzrin.
Nearly
2,000 of these
beautiful
antelopes roam the
Golan. |
Fifteen species of fish swim in the rivers and
ponds of the Golan, while seven species of
amphibians and thirty-five different kinds of
reptiles (only one of them poisonous!) populate
their banks. Millions of birds fly over the Golan
during their biannual migration from Europe to
Africa and back: one hundred
vulture couples nest in the Gamla Nature Reserve,
together with eagles and other raptors.
The Golan is home to thousands of gazelles, rock
rabbits, hyenas, wild boars, foxes, and even a
rare subspecies of wolf unique to the Golan. They
cohabit with badgers, jackals, wildcats, and an
extremely uncommon leopard or two. Seventy years
ago Mount Hermon was still home to the Asian
brown bear, but none have been sighted for three
generations now.
|
