The Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve is a 3,000-acre (12 km2) breeding and reacclimation center administered by the Israel Nature Reserves & National Parks Authority, situated in the Southern Arabah near Yotvata.
The Yotvata Hai-Bar is the desert counterpart of the Carmel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve which operates in the country's Northern Mediterranean forest.
Endangered and locally extinct animals mentioned in the Bible are bred here for possible reintroduction to the Negev desert. The Asian Wild Ass has already been reintroduced in the Makhtesh Ramon into the wild. In addtition the park has some rare desert animals, which are not native to Israel, like the Scimitar Oryx from northern Africa.
Some of the species bred here are:
- Arabian Oryx (O. leucoryx)
- Scimitar Oryx (O. dammah)
- Ostrich (S. c. camelus)
- Addax (A. nasomaculatus)
- Asian Wild Ass (hybrids of E. h. kulan and E. h. onager)
- Somali Wild Ass (E. a. somaliensis)
- Caracal (Caracal caracal schmitzi)
- Sand Cat (Felis margarita harrisoni)
- Arabian Leopard (P. p. nimr)
- Arabian Wolf
- Dorcas Gazelle
- Griffon Vulture
- Nubian Ibex
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Arabian Oryx
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Asian Wild Ass
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Ostrich
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Scimitar Oryx
Famous quotes containing the words nature and/or reserve:
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—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“I do not know what right I have to so much happiness, but rather hold it in reserve till the time of my desert.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)