hyraxes - my favorite animals

8/12/2019 Hyraxes - My favorite animals

1/8

The Hyraxes a love story with a marvel of nature

The first time I saw those lovely animals was more than a year ago. I just started to work, and

after 9 hours in front of the computer I felt like going for a walk each afternoon. That May

evening I climbed several sets of stairs leading to parallel streets up (aifa is built on hills!, and

walked to the end of a dead"end street to admire the spring flowers on the hill. The street was

separated from the hill by a metal railing. #urprise$ %ehind the railing, on the rocks, I saw a

family of reddish"brown animals, basking in the evening sun. I counted about &' of them, babies

and adults. I stared at them and they stared back, impassively, with great calm and dignity. If I

moved, they simultaneously turned their heads following me with their eyes, as in a kind of

ballet.


2/8

That night I enthusiastically told avid about this newly found neighborhood )oo, and in the ne*t

days we visited the animals together. I searched the internet for information about them and

found their name + hyra*es- "" and a wealth of articles about them. They turned out to be uite

ama)ing little creatures. /or instance, they are the closest living relatives of elephants, having

much of their skeletal structures in common. In the past, one of the &' then e*isting kinds of

hyra*es was the si)e of a hippo$ 0erhaps as a remnant of those glorious days, a hyra*pregnancy lasts about 1 months, and the babies can eat hard food already on their second day,

but continue to supplement it with their mother2s milk until they are ' months old.

3n their feet they have tiny hoofs-4 the inside of the feet have sweat glands, and the moisture

allows them to climb almost vertical surfaces. 5ou can see them sprinting down the rocky hills

like a furry brown waterfall, and up as uickly as mountain goats.

They spend most of the day basking in the sun on the rocks, trying to make up for their poor

circulation. 3n cold days, they huddle together in big groups to keep warm.


3/8

The difference of their body temperatures between the coldest and hottest periods of the day

may reach 1"6 degrees 7elsius$

%eside the eagle, the hyra* is the only animal that can look directly into the sun4 they developed

this in order to being able to keep watch on their winged predators.

The she"hyra* is the only female animal that has testosterone levels higher than those of males.

8s if all this weren2t enough, here is another interesting fact probably #pain owes its name to

these cute balls of fur and muscles. In ebrew, rabbit- is #8/8:4 when the 0hoenicians,

whose language was similar to ebrew, sailed near the coast of #pain, they saw large groups of

hyra*es basking on the rocks. #hafan im- (;abbits2 coast-! later became #pain-.


4/8

Then they decided that it was much more comfortable to put their front paws on my knees. The

first time it happened, I was wearing black jeans, and the little paws left tiny white dusty hoof"

prints- all over my knees. I would not feel as happy even if I were decorated with the ?egion of

onor$ /or a few days I didn2t want to brush the footprints off my jeans + as a young lover who

doesn2t want to wash his cheek after it was first touched by the tender lips of his beloved.

3ne day, when I ran out of food, a hyra* delegate came to me, stood up, put his paws on my

knee, looked intensely into my eyes and said @@@@@$- " #orry,- I answered, but there is no


5/8

more food. That2s it$- e went off, but kept looking at me. 3A, she obviously doesn2t

understand our language. I should try something simpler$- e came to me again, stood with his

paws on my knees, approached his face to mine and started to slowly stick out his tongue, bend

it backwards and bring it back in.

This should be clear even to a baby$-

>nfortunately, even this simplest sign language communication failed, as no food appeared.

They must have thought I was a complete idiot$ %ut I did understand, and ne*t time I brought

more food. owever, it still was not enough by that time the family had doubled, and ten hyra*babies were busy suckling their moms and uickly learning about other food options.


6/8

and before the %ig /ather could understand what was going on, the Aid yra* was sitting

comfortably on my lap, happily munching on a juicy carrot stick$

This taught me a valuable lesson what seems but an obstacle may actually become a

trampoline to success$

I am constantly searching the net for new articles on my beloved furry friends. 3nce I decided to

contact the author of the @nglish"language article on yra*es in niversity$ I invited 8rik

and introduced him to the three hyra* colonies known to me. It greatly helped him in his work,

since he is looking at how the patterns of vocali)ations of the hyra* vary with their location, and

whether nearby animals BlearnB particular songs from their neighbors. e came freuently to

record my- hyra*es, bringing all his euipment with him. #ometimes I accompanied him and

saw how he tricked the animals into singing-. e stood on top of a hill where as many as

perhaps a hundred animals were basking on the rocks below. ow would you bring them

closer without giving them foodE- I asked. e smiled, produced a small tape recorder and

pushed a button. I heard the chirping sounds of baby hyra* calls (very much like small birds!. I

was ama)ed at the result$ 8?? the hyra*es darted up with lightening speed. In a couple of

seconds the brown avalanche reached us. The animals stared at us with a mi*ture of menace

and ama)ement


7/8

#ee, you understand nowE 8re you coming with me, or whatE

on2t look at her + you will be my :umber 3ne$-

I am still deliberatingD


8/8

hyraxes - my favorite animals

Documents