The Mountain Gazelle (Gazella gazella) Photo: Talia Good 2016
Israel is known as the Land of the Gazelle in the Bible. The Hebrew word for gazelle is צבי (tzvi) which can also mean beautiful or glorious or honor. In Daniel 11:16 it says:
which the New King James version translates as, But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand against him. He shall stand in the Glorious Land with destruction in his power.
The Hebrew words here translated as ‘Glorious Land’ are ארץ-הצבי (eretzhatzvi), literally the land of the gazelle. Other translations say “the Beautiful Land”. This word צבי is used to refer to the Land of Israel also in Daniel 8:9 and in Ezekiel 20:6. In Daniel 11:45 it is used in relation to the Holy Mountain, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him
The words here translated as ‘glorious holy mountain’ could also be translated literally as the holy mountain of the gazelle.
Elsewhere in Scripture we see gazelles mentioned in the lists of the permitted foods ( Deuteronomy 12:22; 14:5; and 15:22). In 1 Kings 4:23 gazelles are listed amongst those animals making up King Solomon’s daily provisions. Gazelles symbolize swiftness in I Chronicles 12:8 and Proverbs 6:5. In the Song of Solomon the Shulamite’s lover is called a gazelle ( Song of Songs 2:9;2:17;8:14) and the lover describes her breasts as being like the twins of a gazelle (4:5 and 7:3). In Isaiah 13 it says that in the face of the terrors of the coming Day of the LORD that every man will flee like a hunted gazelle (Isaiah 13: 14).
Clearly the gazelle was a well-known and common animal in Biblical Times, so common in fact that Israel became known as the Land of the Gazelle. There are two species of gazelle in Israel, the Mountain Gazelle (Gazella gazella) which lives in the northern parts and the Dorcas Gazelle (Gazella dorcas) which is found in the southern deserts. The Mountain Gazelle can be identified by the darkish stripe between its white underbelly and its fawn back, which is lacking in the generally paler colored Dorcas gazelle.
Dorcas gazelle, Hai Bar opyright: Talia Good 2018
THE MOUNTAIN GAZELLE
Once widely distributed across the Arabian Peninsula, and in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria the mountain gazelle is locally extinct in many of these areas due to overhunting and habitat loss. It is estimated that in 1948, when the modern State of Israel was established legally, only around 500 mountain gazelles survived within her borders. During the preceding years they had been hunted mercilessly because of the availability of guns and poorly enforced hunting laws. After the establishment of the State of Israel the hunting laws were better enforced and the population of mountain gazelles grew to around 10,000. In 1993 an outbreak of foot and mouth disease decimated the population which dropped to its present size of around 3000. They are now a protected species in Israel but poaching continues to be a problem and the encroachment of urbanization continues to destroy habitat. In addition the population is predated upon by feral dogs and a growing population of wolves, jackals and hyenas, all of which thrive in areas around cities where they can scavenge garbage. Mountain gazelles are now considered an Endangered Species in the IUCN Red List.
In Jerusalem there is a very special herd of mountain gazelle. This herd was cut off by urban development which surrounded the valley in which they lived. The herd originally numbered around 30 individuals but through the years poaching and road kill on the adjacent motorway caused the population to drop to just 4 gazelles. Developers wanted to build on this prime location near the center of the city, but the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) and local people fought a hard battle to have it turned into a reserve and save the gazelles. The local people won the battle and a few years ago an upgraded 250 dunam (62 acre) reserve with good fences and a 24-hr guard, four ponds linked by a spring-fed stream, walkways, and bird hides, was opened free for the public. It is one of my favorite places to just walk, look at the wildlife and find a little quiet in the midst of the bustling city. The gazelle herd was augmented with some individuals from populations in the north of the country and now numbers around 20. New fawns are being born each year. When travelling around the Land one often spots gazelles off in the distance or skipping across the road but in this reserve it is easy to observe them at close quarters.
The gazelles in Gazelle Valley, Jerusalem Photo: Talia Good 2016Mountain gazelle dining on almonds, Gazelle Valley, Jerusalem Copyright: Talia Good 2018
The Gazelle Park also preserves habitat for a wide range of other species which live or visit the park.
Crown anenome ( Anenomecoronaria) Copyright: Talia Good Rose chafer beetle (Potosia cuprea) on Copyright: Talia Good 2015Hadera frog (Rana levantina Copyright: Talia Good 2016White-throated kingfisher ( Halcyon smyrnensis) Copyright: Talia Good 2018
Closely related to the mountain gazelle, the Dorcas gazelle is smaller in stature, lighter in color and has larger ears and more strongly curved horns. The Dorcas gazelle is superbly adapted for life in the hot southern deserts of the Negev. It can go all its life without drinking water as it can get all its needs from its food or from licking dew drops from leaves. It eats a wide range of vegetation but is largely dependent upon the leaves, fruit and flowers of the acacia tree. The Dorcas gazelle is distributed widely across the north African deserts, in Jordan and Israel, but it is considered a Vulnerable species according to the IUCN Red List.
