WILD ISRAEL explores one of the greatest migration pathways
in the world,
The Mediterranean.
A shifting panorama of forests, dunes and sea.
Discover the flow of creatures living here,
some for just a season, some for all time
Trace the journeys that began centuries before
in other seas and continents.
Journeys that continue streaming into an incredible
world above and below the surface of the Mediterranean.
[Bells ringing]
n Israel, history is everywhere.
religion and cultures have intersected over the centuries.
But the country is less known for its fascinating wildlife
and terrain.
Explore an Israel most people never see.
From snowy peaks, to the world's lowest sea.
From green mountains to ancient desert landscapes
and tropical coral reefs,
and from flowing waterfalls to Mediterranean beaches.
Its location at the intersection of continents
makes Israel a bridge for migrating populations,
in the air, on the land and in the sea
Along Israel's western edge stretch 118 miles
of stunning beaches.
This long sandy strip widens out to a vibrant, fertile land,
the Mediterranean region.
The southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea
offers a gateway to Africa;
its eastern coast borders Asia;
to its north lies Europe.
For the last 3000 years the Mediterranean Sea
has provided a passageway between these continents.
A passageway also used as a cultural network,
military sea lane and economic infrastructure.
Countless groups of settlers, merchants and armies
have made their way across these waters
to reach the worlds across the horizon.
Overhead and beneath the waves, the animal kingdom parallels
these human journeys.
Up high, millions of birds still migrate from continent
to continent.
some staying for a short time, and others for good.
Turtles swim from sea to sea and from coast to coast,
returning to the beach of their birth in order to reproduce.
Hundreds of species of plants and sea creatures expand
their range from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal,
to settle in the Mediterranean Sea.
These vast migrations remain one of the most powerful
natural dynamics on the face of the Earth,
and one of the most ancient stories ever told.
The Mediterranean Region, from the sea to its beaches
and surrounding area, contains the migration secrets
over tens of thousands of years.
Four caves on the side of Mt. Carmel
house the remains of prehistoric people.
They lived here continuously for thousands of years,
hunting and foraging in the dense woodland of the Carmel
and the generous sea.
According to the cave findings, Homo Sapiens, humans like us,
migrated here from Africa about 40,000 years ago.
At Mt. Carmel's foothills, along the coast,
lie the traces of a vanished community, which had created
a life on this beach, and survived until they moved on
or were overwhelmed by the next wave of migration.
On the Dor coast, overlooking the gulf,
stands a fort over 3000 years old.
Another remnant of ancient marine cultures that migrated
from the northern Mediterranean Sea bringing
their beliefs and customs from distant lands.
Not far away, still on the coast,
stands the 2000-year-old city of Caesarea.
First just a simple port, Caesarea was developed
during the first century AD, with all the engineering skills
of the mighty Roman Empire.
The coastal cities, exposed to the influence of migrants,
merchants and settlers, were always more open and diverse
than settlements within the interior.
Caesarea even boasted theaters, public bathhouses
and a huge stadium for horse races.
cultural features that were completely foreign
to the rest of Israel in those days.
Another more recent intervention
from the outside world has affected
the locals in this region.
In the past, the Mediterranean Sea was an almost completely
enclosed body of water.
At its eastern edge, vast expanses of desert
separated it from the Red Sea.
Everything changed during the 19th century.
When 100 miles of sand and rock were carved out over ten years
to create a canal that connected the two seas.
In 1869 the Suez Canal opened, and so began the world's
largest experiment in animal migration,
caused by human activity.
Once blocked by the Egyptian desert, over 350 species
of plant and sea creatures have made their way
from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal
to a new life in the Mediterranean.
This huge biological influx at times displaced many
of the original inhabitants.
This unintended effect is called "Lessepsian Migration",
named after the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps,
who conceived and led the construction of the Suez Canal.
Lessepsian migration is mainly Unidirectional,
from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea;
very few species make the journey
in the opposite direction.
Israel's Nature and Parks Authority, along with other
researchers, has conducted studies over the years
to monitor the migration of new species and population shifts
that are still taking place.
More than 50 percent of the plants and animals now here
have migrated from the Red Sea,
and each year more are discovered.
In most of Israel's coastal areas there has been
a sharp drop in the number and diversity of sea animals,
largely due to over fishing.
But off Israel's most northern coast, a marine nature reserve
offers a sanctuary from that threat.
In the canyons and among the rocks within the reserve,
entire populations of species that have almost disappeared
from the rest of Israel's coastal areas can thrive here,
safe from the fisherman's nets.
These free diving experts are monitoring population numbers
and environmental factors that help these fish survive.
Without air tanks generating bubbles,
the divers don't frighten these animals,
and manage to get within touching distance
to document their daily activities.
Close to the seabed, the Coral Catfish advance
like a rolling ball.
They are new to the area, having arrived here from
the Red Sea only 15 years ago.
Each year they spread a few more miles
northwards along the coast.
Days after hatching, the coral catfish float in a dense school.
Within a short time they drop down to the seabed
and begin eating everything they find along the way.
Only when fully grown, do they separate
and each one lives alone.
These catfish use sensors to locate food in the sand.
They come armed with an extremely toxic spike
on their dorsal fin, dangerous even to humans.
Another traveler from Red Sea is the King Mackerel
which can grow to 6-1/2 feet in length.
Originated in those distant warm waters, this predator
has a competitive advantage in its new home.
Many of the long time predators in the Mediterranean Sea
journeyed here from the opposite end
of the Mediterranean, from the much colder
Atlantic ocean.
They're not suited to temperatures
that can rise above 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
But the King Mackerel, like other fish
from the Red Sea, can handle the warmth.
The Blue-barred Parrotfish is another wanderer
who made its way northwards through the canal.
Only a few were seen here in 2004.
Within the next 10 years they launched
a population explosion.
This seems to be the pattern:
they come as a few individuals, reproduce slowly,
and within a few years reach a critical mass
that enables rapid, massive reproduction.
The parrotfish feeds off algae and even hard organic material
like mollusks and barnacles.
To digest this food, the parrotfish needs
a warm environment,
so, ironically, global warming and rising sea temperatures
are actually helping it survive.
Here the larger visitor from the south
lives alongside the smaller, local parrotfish.
The rising sea temperature, 5 degrees Fahrenheit
in the last 3 decades, gives the new immigrant an advantage.
The Red Soldierfish, another migrant from the Red Sea,
found a home among the rocks and caves.
They hide during the day, and t night go out to hunt plankton.
Their large eyes are adapted to this nocturnal lifestyle.
Their entire body is covered by hard scales and spikes,
which help fend off predators.
The large eyes of the Vanikoro Sweepers indicate that they,
too, are nocturnal, going out to hunt plankton at nightfall.
They also swam here from the Red Sea,
reproduced rapidly and are now common
off Israel's coast.
Among all the hundreds of migrants living
in the Mediterranean, the Marbled Spinefoot
was one of the very first and most successful species
to swim the Suez canal.
Today, more than 150 years after the canal opened,
it makes up to 30 percent of the rock dwelling population.
At times, even all these sharp, toxic spines can't protect it
from becoming prey to other fish.
The herbivorous cow bream feeds on the same algae
as the spinefoot.
Luckily there seems to be enough for everyone.
While most members of the school graze peacefully below,
a few individuals swim closer to the surface,
taking guard duty.
Sticking together allows the cow bream to take advantage
of the open, exposed meadows.
Swimming in large schools is supposed to protect them,
but humans don't play by Nature's rules.
Huddling in these large schools actually make cow bream an easy
and lucrative catch.
Due to intensive fishing, the cow bream population
has dwindled and only here, in the protected reserve,
can they reproduce and survive successfully.
The Guelly Jack, identified by its yellow stripe,
is a fast moving predator that hunts smaller fish.
The jacks have developed a very effective hunting strategy:
they hide within schools of grazing cow bream,
which pose no threat to other fish.
At the right time, the jacks emerge from their cover,
and snap up unsuspecting prey,
and then they disappear back into the school.
An unusual predator active during both day and night:
the Brown Meager reaches up to 15.5 pounds.
It has a large, strong spine that wards off cave predators
like the grouper.
The meager is blessed with exceptional hearing.
This helps it take part in a remarkable vocal interchange.
The meager makes a drumming sound
using a muscle at the base of its pectoral fin.
[Drumming sound]
During the mating season, the entire school makes this
sound, playing like a large underwater orchestra.
Outside the reserve the meager is a rare sight
due to extensive over fishing.
In fact, there are centers around the world that use
the meagre's population numbers as an indicator
of environmental success or failure.
They may not look like it, but here are the sharks' distant
and rather flat relatives, Rays that have adapted
to hunting through the seabed.
To do this, they use sensors that contain
electrical receptors for locating their prey:
ampullae of Lorenzini.
All species of Ray are protected in Israel.
Though they also know how to protect themselves.
Armed with a large spike on their tails.
Very useful when confronting deadly predators like sharks.
In the Common Torpedo the chest muscles
act likes batteries, enabling it to produce
electrical voltage that can stun its enemy or prey
with a 200-volt shock.
The pectoral fins of the Bull Ray look like wide wings;
it uses its "wings" to roam the water.
With nightfall, awkward slow-moving crustaceans
leave their hideaways among caves and rocks.
These Slipper Lobsters are seasonal migrants.
For most of the year they live out in the deep.
Only during the spring do they venture into shallow water
looking for a mate and food.
They forage for mollusks which the lobsters crack open.
With its blue, sensitive antennae, the lobster detects
all movement in the water, which it tastes in order
to sense and locate another lobster nearby.
A group of lobsters is busy at the moment with courting games.
Outside of the reserve they are still hunted illegally,
but here their chances of survival are very good.
Unless they run into a hungry sea turtle.
In the spring the water temperatures begin to rise,
and will continue to rise throughout the summer.
Predatory worms launch into a frantic mating dance,
rising up to the warm water's surface and secreting
reproductive cells along the way.
Spring is the migration season for jellyfish.
The warm water is full of food and reproductive cells
that attract them.
The jellyfish come in swarms from the deep sea,
filling the shallow water and the beaches.
In the past only jellyfish from the Mediterranean Sea
floated in, but now the Nomad Jellyfish is becoming
more common, yet one more migrant
from the tropical seas to make a home here.
The diver reviles the Little Shrimp Scads
that live among its tentacles;
At the end of summer the Jellyfish disappear
from the shallow waters.
There are researchers who believe that it all happens
because the scads grow and eat their jellyfish home.
The ongoing migration at sea is echoed by the migration
on land and even in the air where strong breezes carry
seeds from distant lands. And spring brings millions
of insects, which in turn feeds the waves of migrating birds.
Like the sea, the land in spring time is flooded
with waves of renewed energy and vivid bursts of colors
which adorn the open landscape from now until
the early summer.
Close to Israel's southern coast, on the border between
the coastal plain and the Negev Desert
red carpets of anemones are in full bloom.
[Birds chirping]
The anemones flower in dense clusters to encourage
successful pollination and reproduction.
After it has finished flowering and its seeds have ripened,
each anemone shoots up quickly.
This elevates its seeds above the field of flowers,
and exposes them to the wind.
The tiny seeds are then carried away far from the mother plant.
The migration of plant life occurs over short distances
compared to the vast stretches of territory covered
by flying visitors, which migrate through every year.
[Chirping]
On dusty rock walls throughout the Mediterranean region,
miniature cities of bee-eaters, come to life.
Migrating here each spring from Africa, they build
their nesting colonies in river channels, on soft walls
that are easy to dig into. They live alongside
a diverse population.
Some are migrants while others live here permanently.
A small group of owls,
a beautiful roller,
a family of foxes,
and even a pair of badgers that chose to live in a burrow
beneath the colony.
The bee-eaters that have just arrived are right away
busy building their new homes.
Each pair digs a nesting burrow up to 6.5 feet
deep into the vertical wall.
During the digging period they still take time to work
on producing the next generation.
The European bee-eater is a very social bird and forms
flocks for both nesting and migration.
This is one of the few birds that migrates during
both day and night time.
Living up to its name, the bee-eater is the bane
of bees and wasps.
It does its work so well that once it has "chosen"
a victim, the chances of that bee or wasp escaping
are next to none.
From the month of May onwards, everyone is busy
looking after the young, and as these chicks grow
so does their demand for food.
At the end of the nesting season they eat
up to fifty times an hour!
[Chirping]
When they are 30 days old the chicks leave the nest
but they continue to get food from their parents
for another three weeks.
A hungry Mongoose with her pups has found
the Bee Eater's colony.
All the colony members rally to fight off the intruder.
She digs into a nesting burrow but can't reach
the chicks hiding deep down.
This time the Bee Eaters succeed.
Next time they may not be so lucky.
The roller is also a temporary migrant.
Like the bee-eater, it nests in dug-out burrows,
and often stops by to join the crowd in bee-eater colonies.
Dozens of owls live in the colony, each pair staking out
its own small territory.
Their sharp calls echo in the river channel
throughout the day.
[Hooting]
They live all year round in abandoned bee-eater burrows.
This small nocturnal raptor is also active
in the early morning and afternoon.
There are long hours of overlap with the bee-eaters.
Not always a good thing for the colorful birds.
The owls need to feed their young and will not hesitate
to hunt a young or weak bee-eater.
The annual bird migration works out for one more group
of local predators.
A family of foxes has dug a network of burrows at the base
of the cliff, and in the afternoon and evening
they rouse themselves for action.
They find what they need to eat in this seasonal colony,
and there's enough for their cubs as well.
But life isn't perfect here.
Annoying fleas reproduce all too quickly in the burrow
and the foxes have to move house every few weeks.
Their stay beneath the bee-eater colony
is perfectly synchronized.
When the bee-eaters leave, the foxes will also move on
for new burrows.
This time, in a rocky range above the colony wall.
From there, the parents set out on hunting trips,
and bring their cubs tasty bites.
Even Gazelle fawns are caught from time to time.
The Mountain Gazelle is fast, but foxes and jackals are now
far more common, attracted by endless supplies
of human garbage.
These predators pose the greatest threat
to the young fawns.
The gazelles graze in small herds in fields
and on the mountainsides, wary and sensitive.
Towards evening their concern is justified
Not all the migration in the Mediterranean region comes from
beyond Israel's borders.
There are internal migrations underway as well.
These Golden Jackals have been ranging from wild remote areas
to populated areas as well.
[Howling]
All along the Mediterranean region jackals live
in permanent pairs, joined by young jackals
that help to feed and care for the pups.
After the wheat harvest the jackals trap rodents
in the harvested fields and play in the piles of straw.
When hunting rodents they scramble up high to reach
a better observation point.
They keep a safe distance from wild boars that come to feast
on the harvested straw.
One of the most chilling sounds
heard throughout the region
are the jackals' territorial howls.
[Howling]
And now the most common predator in northern Israel
is no longer confined just to the wild.
The expansion of settlements and the large amounts of food
and garbage have attracted jackals from their usual
hunting grounds.
The slow migration has even reached the center of Tel Aviv.
Along the Yarkon River lives a population
of a few dozen jackals.
They live peacefully among the many visitors,
and rear their pups in the thickets of the river bed
and among the park's trees.
Jackals love water and often swim in the swamps and rivers
of the coastal plain.
In the spring the female gives birth to between 4 and 8 pups
and suckles them for 3 months.
When they reach 1 month they begin to play outside
and eat the food brought by their parents and the young
members of the group.
Numerous rivers including the Yarkon, cross the region
and flow west to the Mediterranean Sea.
Close to the estuary are swampy areas with dense thickets,
a haven for animals that find their final refuge here,
in the most settled and built-up region of Israel.
Among the region's river plants, and woodland roams one
of the largest mammals in Israel, the wild boar.
[Snorting]
Another example of an animal migrating within Israel.
They live in groups of up to 30.
These boars can weigh in at a hefty 330 pounds!
The wild boar eats everything, from corms and fruit
to small animals and carcasses.
In the past they lived only in the woodland
and swampy thickets, but now they have moved
closer to farms in the area.
These boars now feed happily on various crops
and are reproducing with great success.
Females can give birth to 13 piglets at once!
The fur of the young boars is striped and helps camouflage
them in the thickets.
In fact they are so successful, that wild boars have become
a destructive nuisance.
During certain times of the year they are culled
by authorized hunters.
But on the Carmel they are protected.
Environmental authorities consider them an important part
of the Mediterranean woodland ecosystem.
In the swamps, at the Carmel foothills,
on small green islands, nest Little Grebes.
Any sudden movement causes them to dive and disappear into
the water for almost a minute, only to pop up far away.
The grebe chicks wait in the floating nest for their parents
to return with food.
Within a few days they will start foraging by themselves
in pools and swamps.
In all the coastal swamps, it's common to see water birds
like egrets and ibis.
They may look like long-time residents but the ibis
are recent arrivals.
The Mediterranean region was part of their migration route
so they only used to stay for the winter.
During the 1970s a small population decided
to stay permanently.
They settled on river banks, in swamps and nested
in the tamarisk thickets and among the branches
of the Eucalyptus trees.
Migrating here has brought its own set of local threats.
These birds now have to watch out for
the Jungle Cat.
It is 4 times larger than the domestic cousin,
swift, strong, very good at climbing and
swimming.
Undeterred by water, the jungle cat hunts fish,
rodents and birds.
The cubs are protected and cared for by both parents
until the age of 6 months, when they typically leave
to find an unoccupied territory in nearby fields
or around rivers.
Today they survive mainly by hunting rodents living
in farm land.
This female searches For food for her cubs
during the night hours.
She listens for the sound of the voles
in the alfalfa fields,
and from time to time manages to catch one.
She's not the only one out here on the prowl.
[Hissing]
Throughout the day, large Whip Snakes will feed
on the migrating birds, and hunt voles in the fields.
These two now conduct a stormy dance in the summer heat,
reveling in the thrill of courtship,
the female lays up to 14 eggs in the ground, which will
hatch two months later.
Large Whip Snakes can reach 4 feet and are feared
for their strength and agility.
Among the largest and most common of Israel's snakes.
The Whip Snake shares these river banks
with an ancient looking reptile.
The soft-shelled turtle can reach a weight of 110 pounds.
For the most part, it lives in fresh water, until the turtle's
population grows large enough.
Then a few will migrate from their home base swimming
downstream into the salt sea.
They will search for the mouth of a new river and find
a new area to settle in.
Like all reptiles, they cannot maintain their body heat
and require hours of sunbathing and warming
in order to get moving.
The long head of the soft-shelled turtle
acts like a snorkel.
They can wallow in the riverbed mud or swim
with their oar-shaped legs, while only their nostrils
poke above the surface.
They feed on crabs, worms, fish and carcasses.
The soft shell turtle encounters salt water
only during its migration, but it has cousins that
live permanently out in deep salt waters.
Deep below the Mediterranean Sea, massive brown sea turtles
offer a majestic sight.
They feed mainly on mollusks, crabs fingerlings.
They will sometimes dine on seagrass.
Less common are the green sea turtles,
which are mostly herbivorous.
The turtles swim great distances, from sea to sea
and from coast to coast.
In the summer the females return to lay eggs
at the same coast on which they hatched.
Hoping to strengthen the dwindling turtle population,
rangers from Israel's Nature and Parks Authority
go out to collect these eggs and transfer them
to protected sites.
New nests are constructed to look as much as possible
like the original nest, the eggs are placed
at the same depth at which they were laid
and in a similar arrangement.
An iron cone protects them from ravens, and fencing blocks
foxes and vehicles.
The eggs are incubated in the warm sand for about 2 months,
and then if all goes well tiny newborn turtles emerge,
digging their way upwards, to begin their dangerous journey
of tens of feet from their nest to the sea.
The rangers guard the nest day and night during these hours,
and then protect the turtles until their first dip.
Now they are on their own.
This project has made a huge difference
to the turtles' survival rates.
Now each summer thousands of tiny turtles
manage to reach the water.
Most of them will not survive the first year,
but those that do will migrate for a while
and then return here each summer.
During the nesting season, at the height of the summer,
the Mediterranean's beaches and cliffs are adorned
by a spectacular white flower, the Sea Daffodil.
At night the flowers release a strong fragrance
that attracts the insects needed for pollination.
The Mediterranean provides a natural migration pathway
for countless animals passing through.
But some migration in the region
is very carefully planned.
Just east of the coastline the Carmel Mountain Range
rises up, covered by Mediterranean woodland.
The Carmel is a biosphere reserve, a reserve
that combines conservation with economic development
and settlement.
Here on Mt. Carmel's peak, another long-running
restoration project is underway.
In the past, hundreds of vultures nested
on this mountain range.
But many were illegally poisoned, or accidentally
electrocuted by landing on high voltage power poles.
Now only a few dozen vultures remain.
Israel's Nature and Parks Authority stepped in.
In 2015, 49 Vultures were brought from Europe
to the Nucleus Breeding center,
to help the local population reproduce.
The newcomers were placed in cages to breed
with other vultures.
Their eggs were placed in incubators.
The chicks that hatch are cared for in a way
to avoid human imprinting. A one-way glass wall allows
the ranger to observe and feed the birds without being seen.
She also uses a vulture puppet to feed the chicks.
This way, when they mature, the vultures will not try
to make contact with people, but will join their friends
already released into the wild.
The young vultures are kept for a period of acclimation
with adult vultures in a cage placed opposite
their new home.
The day of release is always a nervous time.
But today, the young vulture spreads its wings to freedom.
In a nearby valley on the Camel, a permanent
feeding station has been set up,
where vultures are provided with a constant source of food.
Thanks to all these efforts, the population on the Carmel
is slowly recovering.
In recent years, the Carmel range has seen another
remarkable example of renewal.
In the winter the mountain is covered in rich greenery
that dries up in the summer and becomes dangerous
flammable material.
Every few years, fires break out here,
ravaging acres of vegetation and forests,
even damaging villages and cities on the Carmel.
Recovery is slow after a fire, and tree regeneration
takes years.
In the past herds of deer and goats lived here,
clearing the woodland floor, thinning out the vegetation
and reducing the risk of fire.
Israel's Nature and Parks Authority established a project
to bring back some of the original wild life
that once lived here.
And this also helped restore a natural method
of fire prevention.
In 1978, a small herd of Persian Fallow Deer
was brought from Iran to a breeding nucleus
on the Carmel mountain.
The planned migration succeeded beyond all expectations.
The few Persian Fallow Deer became
a herd of hundreds. They live in a large, protected
area on the peak of the Carmel, fighting,
courting and reproducing.
Each year a few of the healthiest and strongest
are selected for release into the wild.
The ranger shoots each of them with a tranquilizing dart.
The tranquilized deer are inspected and then attached
with a transmitter.
From here they are taken to a release area,
in the Galilee, on the Carmel or in the Jerusalem mountains.
Their progress will be closely monitored.
The moment of release has finally arrived.
As if they lived in the wild all their lives,
the deer disappear into the thicket.
Soon, transmitter signals indicate that they
have successfully joined the free herd beyond the reserve.
This is a different kind of migration, from reserve
to the wild, but it echoes a long legacy that
continues to this day.
The Mediterranean is one of the great migration highways
of history and nature.
Beneath the waves, along the coast, up high in the air,
countless animals have passed through this region looking for
a better safer place to call home.
Many have found it and stayed. Many have kept on
moving through.
With enough care and luck, the region will survive
the environmental damage inflicted by the human touch
and continue to offer a sanctuary
for distant restless creatures still to come.
(♪♪♪)