Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 107, November 2013, pp. 1-29. | Page 13

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garbage dumps. Garbage dumps are good places to see wolves, especially in the desert, as are the feeding stations run by the "Israeli" Nature Reserves Authority (funded by the World Wildlife Fund) (Mendelssohn I982, Khalaf-von Jaffa 1990). Analysis of 15 wolf stomach contents revealed remnants of the following animals: Jirds (Meriones sp. sp.), Hares (Lepus capensis) and Chukar Partridges (Alectoris chukar). Hares seem to be a common prey, bat many apparently are road-killed hares picked up by wolves. Several wolves that had been killed on roads had undigested pieces of hare in their stomachs. Gazelles (Gazella sp.) are occasionally taken, but there is only one observation of wolves hunting gazelle. In the northern Wadi Araba (Arava), three wolves were seen one morning chasing a male dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas subsp.) which they caught after a chase of about 1 kilometer. As gazelles are diurnal with poor vision at night, they are easily caught at night by wolves. In the Jerusalem (Judean) Desert and in the Naqab (Negev), wolves inhabit areas in which ibex (Capra ibex nubiana) occur, but no cases of predation on ibex are known. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are very common in northern Palestine and in the Golan, but no cases of preying on pigs have been observed so far (Mendelssohn I982, Khalaf-von Jaffa 1990).

Desert wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) running, Naqab (Negev) Desert, Palestine. Photo by Frans Lanting. http://franslanting.photoshelter.com/image/I0000LG3NEjGBKno

Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 107 – November 2013