WATCH: Wolf Pursues Baby Mountain Goat in Dramatic Desert Chase in Southern Israel
Ibex are extremely adept at jumping and racing along the arid rocky terrain. So, it turns out, was the wolf
A game warden has caught unique footage of an Arabian wolf chasing a young ibex along the cliffs at Ein Gedi, an oasis near the Dead Sea in southern Israel.
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Wild goats are extremely adept at jumping and racing along the arid rocky terrain. So, it turns out, was the wolf.
Wolves normally relax during the heat of the desert day and rev up in the twilight, when they hunt ibex, gazelles, rodents and reptiles. They do not cavil at eating fruit and vegetables.
The fact that this wolf chased this ibex during the heat of day could signal that it was seeking food for its cubs.
The diminutive Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs) used to be found throughout the Arabian Peninsula region. It is now believed to be extinct in most places except for isolated pockets in southern Israel and Jordan, Iraq, Oman and Yemen. It may still exist in the Sinai peninsula too.
Significantly smaller than gray wolves elsewhere, the desert-adapted Arabian subspecies eschews pack hunting in favor of individualism, hunting in pairs at most and again unlike its brethren elsewhere in the world, it does not howl at the moon or anything else.
Like the Israeli wolf, the ibex (Capra nubiana) is also adapted to desert life and endangered. Unlike the wolf, however, it is a social beast and is active during the day. The remaining desert goats are a popular attraction for tourists at Ein Gedi.