Tag: Middle East

dwarf hippopotamus
The dwarf elephant species Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, found exclusively in Cyprus, weighed around 500 kilograms, while the dwarf hippopotamus Phanourios minor (pictured) reached only 130 kilograms. (© GeorgeLyras at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

New Study: Dwarf Hippopotamuses and Elephants in Cyprus Driven to Extinction by a Few Thousand People

New research reveals that dwarf elephants (Palaeoloxodon cypriotes) and dwarf hippopotamuses (Phanourios minor) on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus were driven to extinction after the arrival of Paleolithic humans around 14,000 years ago. A small population of possibly just 3,000 people was enough to wipe out these animals within a

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Hula bream (Acanthobrama hulensis) - same genus: Yarkon Bream (Acanthobrama telavivensis)
There are few images of the Hula bream. The photo shows the Yarkon bream (Acanthobrama telavivensis) from Israel, which belongs to the same genus. (© MERRYcristhmas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hula bream

Drainage of lake and wetland led to extinction of fauna The wetlands surrounding the 20 square kilometer Hula Lake (also known as Hula Lake, Chula Lake) in Israel were artificially drained in the 1950s to create agricultural land. Within a few years, the endemic fauna of the lake – including

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