Wild Israel takes you to the most isolated place
in the country: The Negev Desert.
Discover a world few have ever seen [hissing],
where only the toughest can survive the brutal heat
and deadly cold.
Learn the survival secrets of the hunters
and the hunted, as they struggle
through a year in the Negev.
In Israel, history is everywhere.
Religion and cultures have intersected over the centuries.
But the country is less known for its fascinating
wildlife and terrain.
[Birds chirping]
Explore an Israel most people never see.
[Chirping]
From snowy peaks, to the world's lowest sea.
From Mediterranean beaches to lush waterfalls.
And from colorful coral reefs
to green mountains and ancient desert landscapes.
And one of the most incredible places of all
is a part of the country where survival is a real challenge
Spanning an area about the size of the State of Connecticut,
the Negev desert envelops the southern half of Israel.
While there are some towns, villages and nomadic tribes,
the Negev is not densely populated by Humans.
However, wildlife is everywhere.
Government laws protect these animals from being hunted,
but they still have to protect themselves from each other
and from the desert itself.
Defying a barren landscape, freezing winters
and searing summers.
Constantly on the prowl for food and water,
their survival is little short of a miracle.
What are their secrets?
How have they adapted to the Negev?
Welcome to one year in the life
of this remote and magical region.
Summer in the Negev brings extreme conditions.
temperatures can rise to 113 degrees Fahrenheit during the da
and drop to 50 Fahrenheit at night.
To learn more about this secret battleground,
rangers from the Nature and Parks Authority
have installed cameras throughout the region.
Their photos reveal a startling world,
rarely seen by outsiders,
especially when so many are active only at night.
[Camera shutter clicks]
The Arabian wolf is one of the smallest wolves in the world.
Evolved to survive the Negev.
Its thin wiry frame requires fewer calories.
Its large ears help release body heat.
[Howling in distance] In the summer, its fur grows short.
They are more active at night when the Negev cools down.
This minimizes their loss of body fluids.
And because food is so scarce,
these wolves need to live in small, more sustainable packs.
[Howling]
This family has dug its burrow
on the Jordanian side of the border.
Every night the parents leave their cubs
and roam in search of food,
ignoring minefields and barbed wire...
crossing the border into the Negev.
[Rustling]
With enough luck and skill, wolves can take down
a desert hare, birds, even a Dorcas gazelle.
But a large proportion of their food
is comprises of the carcasses of domestic animals,
fruit and vegetables from hothouses and fields.
And they have learnt the art of disguise.
Wolves will cover themselves
in the pungent smell of carcasses.
This trick hides their predator smell.
[Howling in distance]
After a successful night,
wolves bury any excess foo for the difficult days ahead.
[Hooting]
While adults hunt, the cubs stay close
to the den's entrance.
They spend the long waiting hours at play,
developing the skills they will need as desert hunters.
Tonight they practice hunting insects.
[Crickets chirping]
Adult partners enjoy a warm and close relationship.
[Howling in distance, crickets chirping]
They rub and caress and maintain constant
physical contact.
Their relationship lasts for many years.
[Howling in distance]
[Howling]
Every night, the pack declares its presence
with a symphony of calls
[Howling]
[Howling in distance, howling]
After an active night the pack's territory
is marked again with urine; each member of the pack adds
his individual urine mark to the boundary.
Before the sun rises the wolves disappear into their dens...
making the struggle for survival a little easier
for other animals.
[Rustling] This family of porcupines lives in burrows
that are about 6 feet deep.
[Rustling] They sleep during the day,
but when darkness falls they set out to dig for plant corms
and bulbs that provide food and water.
At 37 pound, this is the biggest rodent in all Asia.
Porcupines rely on their sharp spines
to fend off predators,
surviving another night in the Negev.
The porcupines take shelter in their burrows
to hide away for one more day.
At the peak of Mount Negev, this is Makhtesh Ramon.
It's a vast crater
that measures 25 miles long, 1600 feet deep.
In summer time, the temperature an reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
In winter, it can plummet to 28 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Makhtesh is a valley surrounded by cliffs;
weathering and erosion have exposed the ancient
rock layers, revealing colorful sandstone cliffs,
volcanic hills and wide channels.
Yet even here, these cliffs and channels
teem with wildlife.
[Birds chirping]
Three different species of hedgehog
inhabit the Negev Desert.
They spend the cool nights
and early morning hours hunting insects,
scorpions and even snakes.
And each has made it to Israel from a different continent.
Originating in Asia, the long-eared hedgehog
is like a living radar station,
able to pick up minute vibrations
made by tiny creatures crawling through the sand.
Sometimes the struggle for survival does not involve
a predator or the terrain.
Here two long-eared hedgehogs
fight for ownership of the burrow.
Each extra minute in the scorching sun
may cost them dearly,
and the only important thing now
is to escape to the cool burrow.
The desert hedgehog originating from Africa
is well-adapted to the deadly Negev:
its long legs create distance from the hot soil,
and enable it to run long distances
with surprising speed.
In the summer it is active at night
and avoids the daytime heat.
During the cold winter it hibernates underground,
and emerges in the spring.
The common hedgehog that originates in Europe
also lives in the Negev.
The female hedgehog nurses and rears her cubs
in a weedy burrow.
They're born about the same size as a walnut,
blind and already spiny.
Fortunately for their mother,
the spines are still soft at birth
Within a few days their eyes open
and their spines harden.
Within 6 weeks, they will have to venture out by themselves
into the desert and face all the dangers lying in wait.
Another creature caught in the struggle for survival
is the fat sand rat.
Sand rats dig their burrows among the roots
of a large saltbush.
It's now the peak of summer and water is scarce.
It manages to survive only with the fluids
in the saltbush leaves and feeding on the bush itself.
Each rat has a territory that includes a network
of underground burrows and scattered saltbushes
above ground.
The rat is diurnal, eating in the early morning.
When full, it gathers saltbush leaves
and takes them down to its burrow.
[Rustling] It needs to roam across its territory
gathering food without becoming food itself
for predators like this falcon.
[Rattling] It hovers mid-air waiting to dive
but this time the little rodent escapes
into his protected burrow.
Only during the mating season do two partners meet;
after mating the male returns to his burrow,
leaving the female to rear the cubs alone.
Native to Israel, the caracal is deadly enough
to command the top of the food chain.
Like a sophisticated hunting machine,
the female caracal sets out, slowly stalking her prey.
She catches a large rodent in the sandy channel.
But the search for food in the desert is never-ending.
In the afternoon she ambushes birds that come to drink water.
[Sloshing]
[Wings flapping]
[Sloshing]
[Gnawing]
The hunt is successful, and once she is full,
the female caracal calls her kitten,
who patiently waits in a rocky hideout
The kitten is threatened by birds of prey
and other predators throughout his childhood;
his mother will keep him alive until it's his turn
to make his way alone.
The pool of water is a hub of activity.
When the hunters depart [wings flapping].
And now the hunted can dare to take their place.
These are Chukars and sand partridges.
Once they are sure that danger has passed,
they approach, camouflaged like desert stones.
Families of chukars and sand partridges
cannot afford to linger here. The risks are too great.
The chukar chicks are led by their father,
even though they are almost the same size.
Sand partridges teach their chicks where to find
the rare water sources in the desert.
[Chirping]
But surviving in the desert is not only a matter
of finding water, food or shelter [pattering].
It's also means staying and fighting back together.
[Birds chirping]
In the Negev, some smaller animals have developed
communal defense strategies.
Nestling in Acacia trees, the Arabian babblers
live in small flocks where an interesting dynamic
comes into play. [Birds chirping]
A leader who wants to consolidate his status
does not threaten or impose his dominance by force.
Instead, he helps and provides for the entire flock.
[Birds chirping] For instance,
he volunteers to stand guard from a high branch,
exposing himself to danger.
[Birds chirping]
Using sharp shrieks he warns of approaching predators.
Thanks to him the entire flock manage to escape
to the Acacia thicket.
[Birds chirping]
The leader displays his strength and courage
by feeding others.
[Wings flapping, chirping]
And the female?
She seems to prefer him over other males
who invest less in the group.
Only the dominant pair breeds.
Thus the bird which makes the greatest contributions
to the community is more likely to have offspring.
The turquoise-colored eggs must be incubated and covered
at all times to hide them from predators.
[Twittering]
All group members pitch in, protecting and caring
for the offspring, which are not theirs.
[Twittering] This community has fixed rituals:
at sunrise, they conduct a morning dance
that demonstrates their bond.
They squeeze between each other and clean feathers
in a ceremony of closeness and connection.
[Twittering]
Volunteering for the community is particularly noticeable
at times of danger [chirping].
A Palestine saw-scaled viper threatens the babblers' area.
All members of the group surround the poisonous snake,
and the dominant babblers attack it
even if it means risking their own lives.
[Chirping]
The viper is particularly dangerous for small birds
like babblers because it is active
during both night and day.
This time the babblers win the battle,
but they're not always so lucky.
[Rustling, chirping]
The ability to fly is their greatest defense.
For some other animals, being grounded
does not automatically mean a death sentence.
Out here in the Negev, the animals active
during the daytime need to be able to escape their predators
and endure the punishing heat.
The Negev is home to herds of Dorcas and Acacia Gazelles.
These animals can reach speeds of up to 50 miles an hour.
Their survival here lies, in part,
with these acacia trees.
The Acacia's sweet flowers and seed pods
provide an important dietary supplement.
Each morning the gazelle feeds on flowers
that fell during the night.
The Dorcas gazelle obtains all the fluids it needs
from the leaves.
[Birds chirping]
Light-footed and fast, the gazelle is well-adapted
to the wide desert plains.
Its sand-colored coat provides essential camouflage.
At times, it almost seems to vanish into thin air.
In the past, large herds lived here.
Proof of this lies in ancient hunting structures
known as "desert kites".
The kites are built from two low stone walls
that forced the animals to run into a trap.
A desert kite was always located in a strategic position
on the herd's foraging route.
In a hunting attack, the frightened gazelles
run the length of the stone walls
straight into the trap a deep pit.
Researchers digging around desert kites have also found
animal bones much larger than gazelles,
such as the Asiatic wild ass, a member of the horse family,
to this day, still untamed by humans [braying].
The wild ass can weigh up to 440 pounds.
Sustaining that kind of weight in the desert heat
requires it to drink every day and this compels it
to travel huge spans in order to find watering holes.
The wild ass has an increased sweating mechanism,
and during the daytime heat it climbs the mountain peaks,
where winds help to cool its wet body.
In the afternoon wild ass from throughout the Negev highlands
gather at the waterhole, camouflaged and almost unseen.
Females with foals, young males,
and strong territorial males that come alone.
All converge cautiously, fearing to approach the water.
A hunting ground for predators.
The gathering at the water hole provides an opportunity
to measure social status and to find a mate.
[Braying]
A young wild ass becomes aggressive
to confirm his status in the group.
Another begins a wild insistent chase after a female.
If she's not in heat, she will keep running
until he gives up.
The females do not usually accept courters
at the crowded water hole;
they prefer mating in the open landscape
with the dominant male who has scared off the competition.
The pregnancy lasts 11 months
and the foal stays with its mother for an entire year.
[Braying, stomping]
Relationships within a herd are not permanent or long-term.
And the herd membership changes constantly.
But there Is still affection and intimacy here.
This adult female has a collar as part of a research study.
Until 1927, Asiatic wild ass lived throughout
Middle Eastern deserts.
However due to extensive hunting,
they currently face world-wide extinction.
In 1968, 11 Asiatic wild asses,
originally from Iran and Turkmenistan,
were brought to become a contained
breeding nucleus in the Negev [braying].
The breeding nucleus was highly successful
and generated a large wild ass population.
A few dozen were released into the wild,
survived, bred, and became this large herd,
numbering some 250 Asiatic wild ass.
The sky fills with autumn clouds,
but there's no guarantee the rains will come soon.
The animals face a constant battle to endure and prevail.
[Birds chirping] They've seen no rain for the last 12 months.
And so does the varied plant life.
These Sternbergia and meadow-saffron flower early.
[Birds chirping] They are perennials, feeding from
their bulbs or corms, food storage organs below ground.
[Birds chirping] This allows them to survive
where other plants would die.
But these plants are still desperate for rain.
[Thunders]
Luckily, this year, the rain arrives just in time.
The entire desert sighs with relief.
[Rain drops] But within a few hours,
so much rain falls, the desert soil cannot absorb it all.
Layers of clay prevent the rain from seeping in deep.
The soil is sealed after just a few drops.
Now the water accumulates quickly
and begins to wash away the foam of the arid loose soil.
This is the best time in the desert. Everybody is happy.
Among these rocks hides a small plant
with unique survival skills, Asteriscus hierochunticus.
This plant covers its seeds right after flowering.
Only a strong rain can soften the special covering
that opens up to the water.
The seeds can wait and survive for years
for a rain heavy enough to wake them from their slumber.
When the Asteriscus seeds germinate,
little yellow flowers appear next to the dry mother plant.
[Birds chirping]
Fall and winter are very short in the Negev desert.
For two months, the area experiences rain and floods,
sometimes snow high in the mountains.
But these short seasons are crucial,
as they provide desert life with essential water
in the hotter seasons to come.
And then, the season of renewal.
[Birds chirping]
In a rain soaked Negev, spring can bloom suddenly,
throwing the desert into a brief celebration
of colors and smells.
[Buzzing]
The period of bounty is very short.
The desert animals seize every moment.
The plants hurry to complete their life cycles
before the summer heat.
They flower in a spectacular range of colors,
inviting insects that in return pollinate them.
[Buzzing]
Red tulips adorn the mountains, taking in the morning dew,
their bulbs buried deep in the rock crevices,
where the water supply lasts longer.
On the peaks of the Negev highlands grows
the desert rhubarb producing leaves
that reach 3 feet in diameter!
[Thunders]
The Rhubarb is called 'the self-watering plant'.
Each raindrop falling on its enormous leaf
is channeled down to the root system,
providing it with 16 times more water
than all the rain splashing around it.
so this broad-leaved plant can survive in the desert,
enjoying growing conditions typical of a wet climate.
Temperatures start rising.
The soil starts to lose its moisture.
In the river valleys of the Negev highlands
grow magnificent Atlantic Pistacio trees,
hundreds of years old.
[Birds chirping] Their roots sink deep into the soil
to reach precious water.
The tree's appearance changes during the year.
In the dry summer it is green,
in autumn its leaves turn red,
and in winter, when the desert turns green,
it sheds its leaves and stands bare
until the following spring.
These ancient trees are a relic
from a colder and wetter bygone era.
It has survived almost a 1000 years
because it is considered sacred by Bedouins,
who never cut it down for fire.
Now, the desert becomes an oasis,
attracting a wide array of bird life
drawn to the short sudden abundance
of greenery and insects.
In the spring the male macqueen's bustard
perform elaborate dancing ceremonies.
The female watches the males from her hiding place
and chooses her partner for the mating season.
[Birds chirping]
Each year the male returns to the same dancing stage,
and tries again to impress the females.
This is the rare cream-colored courser.
The courser uses this moment of bounty
to rear its chicks on the riverbed vegetation.
When the summer comes they will be mature enough
to try and survive on their own.
The cream-colored courser flies well,
but if there is no danger around, it prefers to run.
[Birds chirping] Also fighting for food and space
in the Negev is another bird, the Temminck's horned lark.
[Birds chirping]
It can move quickly, and when it needs to,
freezes in place, blending in with the desert stone.
[Birds chirping]
In early summer the males define and defend
their nesting territory, standing and singing
on shrubs and stones.
And eventually the females join their chosen mates.
Springtime signals a vast northward migration
by storks leaving Africa for their nesting areas
in Europe and Asia.
On their long journey they pass over the Negev.
Most of them hurry by, ignoring the flowering desert,
but some stop for a short rest in fields and on mountains,
hungrily snapping up insects, reptiles and rodents.
The stork's annual journey is a huge feat,
leaving Germany in the autumn, wintering in Africa,
and flying back to Germany.
Some are injured on the way. the flock does not wait.
Here, a solitary stork is left behind.
Its broken leg may prevent it from completing its migration.
A tragedy for the stork.
A welcome sight for a hungry predator.
This family of red foxes is highly dependent
on finding the carcasses of these migrating birds.
They live in a dune, within a multi-branched
network of burrows.
The red fox is one of four species of Foxes
that live in the Negev.
Thanks to the wet winter and abundant food,
all seven cubs have survived so far.
They spend their days playing at the den's entrance,
running and leaping in the relative coolness.
Their games are not just for fun.
Learning to make those same leaps
will be useful for hunting and mating rituals,
all just months away for these cubs.
As darkness falls the mother comes for a quick visit.
She's been gone for hours. Her cubs are ravenous.
The suckling is quick, and the seven youngsters
are no longer satisfied with their milk ration.
The cubs' hunger sends both parents
on nighttime hunting trips.
The young still don't leave the dens' entrances,
and wait impatiently for their parents and their food.
At first light the female fox found a fresh carcass
of a desert hare left by a Pharaoh eagle-owl.
[Hooting] It's not easy to give up,
but the fox is a real threat and the owl is forced
to abandon its catch.
Its chicks waiting hungrily in the rock
will not get this meal. [Hooting]
The female fox hurries to the maze of burrows.
this morning all seven of her cubs
will go to sleep fed and satisfied.
The mother has won another day in the Negev
for her young family. She can never know
if it will be their last.
[Hooting]
Spring in the Negev provides a welcome feeding ground
for the Nubian Ibex.
At only a few days old these kids
are already frolicking happily.
At first light the young enjoy friendly horn fights.
The young females also join the play fighting.
But in the Negev, even during play,
the threat of death is ever present.
On a nearby cliff a pair of Bonelli's eagles
loom dangerously [screeching].
These eagles are quick enough, strong enough
to steal a young ibex kid, so the young must stay
with the herd for the first weeks of life.
Not far from the eagles, nests a pair of brown-necked ravens.
[Croaking]
They harass the eagles and annoy them.
These parents are distracting the eagles
from the chicks in the nest.
In the heat of the day the ibex leads her young kid
to the spring.
They leap down the cliff steps to the shade and water.
Without thinking twice, the mother leaps over the last gap.
For the kid, this is an unpassable chasm.
He doesn't dare leap after her
and looks for another way with growing anxiety.
If he can't get to his mother his fate might be sealed.
A young, solitary ibex kid is easy prey for Bonelli's eagles,
and even if he survives the daylight hours,
he's no match for the nocturnal predators - hyenas and wolves.
There is no other way. His mother calls him
from the depths of the canyon.
He did it!
His leaping and climbing skills will improve within days.
In the meantime he rushes to safety by his mother's side.
The rising temperatures and dry water holes
drive the ibex to the springs.
Ibex require a daily supply of drinking water
and there are few desert springs
with a year-round permanent, stable water supply.
And in the Negev, water can be found
in the most unlikely places.
Ein Avdat is one of the largest and most important
permanent springs.
On the ridge near the spring
a magnificent Nabatean city was built over 2000 years ago,
the city of Avdat, whose inhabitants
drank from the same spring's waters.
The water holes and springs are desert lifelines
that provide food and shelter for many desert birds.
They flock to the water to drink and bathe.
[Birds chirping] Some are native to the Negev,
like the Hill Sparrows, Desert Finches and Trumpeter Finches.
Others like the Namaqua Dove come from Africa.
This is the most northern place it lives.
Another bird able to survive here is the rock martin.
It collects mud from the river channel in its beak
and builds its nest in the canyon's crevices,
not far from water.
The chicks grow in a padded, comfortable mud house.
Higher up the cliffs live bigger tougher neighbors.
On the rocky ledges of the Ein Avdat cliffs,
migrating annually from Africa is the Egyptian vulture
which shares the Negev cliffs with the Griffon vulture,
a permanent resident.
They glide above the ridges looking for carrion.
Griffon vultures are partners for life.
They share incubation of the solitary egg for two months;
when the chick hatches it receives devoted parental care.
Even after leaving the nest it returns to demand food
from its parents until the next egg is laid.
But there are limits even to motherly love.
When this young vulture tries to return to the nest,
its mother is too busy caring for a new chick.
This young vulture must search for his food alone now,
a mission that has become harder in recent years.
Development in the Negev has severely harmed
Griffon vultures.
They face extinction due to urban expansion,
dwindling open landscapes, and a lack of food.
From a population of hundreds, now only a few dozen remain.
To support the population that nests in the region,
nature reserve rangers have set up
a number of feeding stations.
Each vulture fights aggressively
for its place and its meal.
To keep an eye on their battle to survive,
most vultures are tagged for research and monitoring.
As always, the Negev makes no promises.
Every animal lives day to day.
Compared to the larger, deadlier vulture,
the smaller humble sandgrouse enjoys a far stronger
chance of surviving.
In the Negev there are five species of sandgrouse.
They come to the water at fixed hours.
Some species immediately after sunrise,
others just before sunset.
For many years researchers didn't understand
how they nested in the most arid regions devoid of water,
or how the chicks survived the terrible drought
when their parents fed them only dry seeds.
Continuous monitoring solved the amazing riddle:
The male sandgrouse has a special covering
of chest feathers that functions like a sponge.
The male flies tens of miles from the nest
to a water source and absorbs water
in his chest feathers, and then flies back to the nest.
The chicks poke their beak into his chest feathers
and drink the water as if he was a flying water bottle.
Sandgrouse are the preferred gamebird
throughout the Middle East, but in Israel they are
fully protected like all wild animals.
Great efforts are made to preserve wildlife in Israel.
In 1968, the Nature and Parks Authority
created the Yotvata wildlife reserve in the Negev,
a desert center for conserving and nurturing species
on the brink of extinction.
The wildlife reserve also protects other desert animals
from outside Israel, such as the Addax
and the Sahara oryx from Africa.
In the open area of the wildlife reserve
is a breeding nucleus of Arabian Oryx
that lived previously in Israel and Arabia
and is currently under threat of worldwide extinction.
In the spring dozens of young Oryx were born.
Dr. Roni King selects the Oryx that he must tranquilize
before the intended release to nature.
He shoots the selected Oryx with a tranquilizing arrow.
Its horns are sharp and dangerous
and it is treated with due caution.
The rangers attach a radio transmitter to the Oryx's neck
in order to monitor its integration and acclimation
to the free herd in the Negev landscape.
The young Oryx are brought to the acclimation pen,
from where they will be released to nature,
join the herd and run free in the Negev landscape.
About a hundred Oryx already live
and reproduce in the Negev.
For the winners in this battleground,
summer comes again.
The males once again prepare for mating season.
An entire year has passed in the Negev.
Freezing nights and burning days,
scarce food and water, and unforgiving predators.
But time and nature do not stop.
The young wolves go hunting by themselves.
Herds of animals start to roam in search of water.
All want to survive another year in the Negev.
It is the only home they know.