A surprise in a lemon orchard in the Negev: This is what the farmer discovered in his den • Watch

May 31, 2022   

A surprising discovery in an orchard in the Negev: The Nature and Parks Authority located a den under lemon trees where a wolf, a she-wolf, and 7 cubs lived. This is a significant change in the wolves' behavior, as they rarely make contact with humans. It is estimated that the need to search for food led the wolf and she-wolf to the orchard. The Nature and Parks Authority said: "There are a number of individual wolves in the Western Negev, and they are occasionally observed on the Israel Wildlife Service's trail cameras as part of monitoring the wolf population. But this week we had a surprising sighting of a wolf family - a mother, father, and 7 cubs. "A farmer reported to us that he had noticed a wolf den in his agricultural area. We set up a trail camera there and the identification was confirmed! We are happy that although the den disturbed the farmer from pruning the lemon trees in the orchard, he agreed to wait so as not to disturb the young cubs." Those who managed to document the discovery are Moran Bakish, a Nature and Parks Authority inspector, and Linai Boneh, a volunteer at the authority, who assisted in documenting and monitoring the wolves. In natural desert conditions, the wolves' potential prey is rabbits, partridges, rodents, foxes and deer. The wolf also feeds on fruits, vegetables and various plants when there is little prey.

A farmer pruning lemon trees in his orchard in a community in the western Negev discovered a family of wolves living in a den under one of the trees. Nature and Parks Authority inspectors set up a camera in the orchard and found a pair of wolves and 7 cubs there.
(Michal Wasserman)
(Photo: Nature and Parks Authority and Viennai Bona) pic.twitter.com/KiEyLVs1yn

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