Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 107, November 2013, pp. 1-29. | Page 16

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of wolves drove a hyena from a carcass. Wolves feeding on carcasses during daylight may meet vultures. One pair of wolves was feeding on a carcass at a feeding station in the morning. Eight griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus fulvus) from a nearby colony arrived, but did not approach the carcass until the wolves had departed. In another case, a lone wolf fed one morning on a carcass at another feeding station. Seventeen griffon vultures arrived and tried time and again, to approach the carcass, but were chased away each time by the wolf. They too had to wait until the wolf had departed (Mendelssohn I982, Khalaf-von Jaffa 1990).

A Desert Wolf at Beer Al Sabea (Beer Sheva), Palestine. Photo by bartove. This is one of the smallest Wolves in the world (18 kg) living in southern Palestine. They are not very shy, because they are well protected for more than 20 years now. In northern Palestine lives the European subspecies (30 kg), which is much more difficult to photograph, because they are in a conflict with the cattle farmers, who shoot them from time to time. http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Middle_East/Israel/Southern/Beer_Sheva/photo95801. htm In deserts, where wolves are relatively common, jackals (Canis aureus syriacus) occur only in a few localities. It is believed that jackals are more dependent on water since they are found, particularly in the desert, only near human settlements where water is available. It may, however, also be the easy availability of food that attracts jackals to settlements. Desert wolves, on the other hand, have been observed up to 50 kilometer from the nearest water. Possibly they drink only infrequently and husband their body water efficiently.
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 107 – November 2013