The Arab Spring in Egypt has been a failure for sharks. Since last year’s political uprising, and consequent deterioration of law enforcement, poachers supplying restaurants with illicit shark fins have driven the Red Sea shark population down by as much as 80 percent, reports Egypt Independent. In 2006, laws prohibiting trading in sharks were passed, […]
Bee colony collapse disorder is a worldwide phenomenon decimating bee colonies worldwide. Bees, you see, are pretty important. Without them much of our food can’t be pollinated. And the true reason why America lost about one third of its bees last year is largely unknown. Some believe it’s because there is lack of pollen as […]
Ajmal spends his weekends scouting for animals and life in the desert. Here is his trip to Fossil Rock. I’ve always known that much of the Arabian peninsular mountains, especially those in the United Arab Emirates and Oman were at one point in time, millions of years ago, under the ocean. The Tethys sea to […]
Looking for a cool eco-activity with the kids this Hanukkah vacation? This one is for the birds! Until December 28th, you can visit nature reserves and parks in the Galilee and Golan for a special bird-watching festival. The events will be held in six main sites: the Agamon Hula, the Gamla nature reserve, at the […]
The hyrax are cute to some, and pests to others. Photos by Arik Kershenbaum They are considered as cute little critters to some people, and they have been around since at least biblical times. But nowadays, like other animals that are classified as pests – like jellyfish during the summer months, or wild boar that […]
Ostrich steaks on the “hoof”? Not at Israel’s Yotvata Hai Bar wildlife refuge Is it right to raise what should be wild animals for use as leather goods or exotic food menu items in offbeat theme restaurants? These issues came to the forefront recently in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper: private “farms” are raising African crocodiles for […]
Like the Dead Sea scrolls of nature, an extinct frog from Israel returns to life Considered extinct for about 50 years, the Hula painted frog was spotted last week in Israel by a nature parks warden out monitoring the birds. The Hula Valley was covered in DDT and drained decades ago to stop the spread […]
This Cyprus grass snake is now an endangered species First a severe water crisis threatened to create a dire peril to both people and animals in Cyprus. Then we revealed a crisis gripping the island’s song bird population with over one million songbirds killed to make a popular pickled food dish. Now the common Cyprus grass […]
His mother passed away at birth. Now zookeepers at the Al Ain Zoo in Abu Dhabi are asking the public to give this baby gazelle a name. No Splashypants please! Remember Mr. Splashypants the whale that was named during an online Greenpeace campaign? Like it or not, that’s what voters chose for the whale now […]
Philips has created a plastic, urban beehive. Honey, I am home! When I told my husband that I want to build an urban beehive on the roof, he thought I’d flown the coop. It’s enough that we have 15 chickens running around the urban homestead. Bees sting, he reminded me. I, like many other “informed” […]
Kuwait’s animal rights society is hosting a jungle-themed ball and art auction to raise awareness of the plight of animals in the country The Middle East doesn’t exactly have a great reputation when it comes to animal rights and, in some way, you can understand why. Here at Green Prophet we have covered stories including […]
Rising meat demand, rising risks in the Middle East: antibiotics, meat glue and global warming. World meat consumption is on the rise and this is despite increase awareness of the health risks of eating refrozen meat sold as “freshly cut”, and the dangers of eating an enzyme called transglutaminase otherwise known as “meat glue”. A […]
Çağan Şekercioğlu founded ecological research and conservation NGO KuzeyDoğa in 2007 to promote biodiversity and resist environmental degradation in Turkey’s fast-developing eastern region. As thermal power plants and hydroelectric dams pop up more and more across Turkey’s landscape, the effects of these developments on the natural environment go largely unseen. Especially in Turkey’s rural, lightly […]
Turtles were considered evil in ancient Egypt. Locals apparently still haven’t forgot. Human desire for the rare and exotic repast knows no boundaries. And while most Middle Easterners are happy eating domesticated animals such as the cow, and chicken, there are no limits on what they are willing to eat, and offer for dinner. Just […]
“Fukushima cows” starving to death – but some got shipped to the meat markets. Revelation that some 84 Japanese beef cattle shipped to markets in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan may be contaminated with radiation may not have happened had the exposed cattle been genetically “profiled” by a new DNA tracing process being developed by […]