Nahal Taninim
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nahal Taninim or Tanninim ( he, נחל תנינים, , Crocodiles Stream) or Wadi az-Zarka ( ar, وَادِي الزرقاء, , Blue Stream) is a river in
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
near the
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
Jisr az-Zarqa Jisr az-Zarqa ( ar, جِسْر الزَّرْقَاء lit. ''The blue bridge'', he, גִ'סְר א-זַּרְקָא; often shortened as Jisr) is an Israeli Arab town on Israel's northern Mediterranean coastal plain. Located just north of Caesa ...
, originating near
Ramot Menashe Ramot Menashe ( he, רָמוֹת מְנַשֶּׁה, ''lit.'' Menashe Heights) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the Menashe plateau between the Carmel mountain range and the Jezreel Valley, it falls under the jurisdiction of Megiddo ...
and emptying into the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
south of Ma'agan Michael. It marks the southern limit of the Hof HaCarmel, or Carmel Coastal Plain region.


Etymology

The river is named for the
Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern, ...
s that inhabited the nearby Kebara swamps until the early 20th century. The last crocodile was hunted in 1912One of the last clean rivers in Israel
Jerusalem Post, 30 January 2014
and is part of a German taxidermic collection currently on display at the natural history museum of the Tel Aviv University. The remains of Krokodelion polis, Greek for "Crocodiles City", a city established there in the
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
period (5th–4th century BCE), are still visible today.Stieglitz, Robert R.
''Tel Tanninim''
2000, accessed 17 February 2021
See also the mythological monster
Tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'' ...
.


History

The name ''River of Crocodiles'' dates as far back as the
Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...
, during which the crocodiles devoured two knights who were bathing in the river.


Hydrology

The area of the basin and its tributaries is about 200 square kilometers, including the Taninim, Ada, Barkan, Alona and Mishmarot streams. Nahal Taninim is the cleanest of Israel's coastal rivers. Three waterways meet in Nahal Taninim: the natural stream, a Roman aqueduct extending from the Zabrin springs to Caesarea, and Mifale Menashe, the waterworks that collect surface runoff water and springwater, routing it into the subterranean water table.


Flora and fauna

The dense undergrowth and reeds along Nahal Taninim are home to many different birds, among them waterside
warblers Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers The ...
and other songbirds. Birding along the Mediterranean
/ref>


See also

Directly related: *
Tel Tanninim Tel Tanninim ( he, תל תנינים, , Crocodiles Mound), in Arabic Tell al-Milāt (lit. 'Mortar Mound')Stieglitz, Robert R.''Tel Tanninim'' 2000, accessed 17 February 2021 is an ancient tell (archaeological mound) on the shore of the Mediterran ...
, a mound at the mouth of the stream holding archaeological remains from various periods General topics: *
Geography of Israel The geography of Israel is very diverse, with desert conditions in the south, and snow-capped mountains in the north. Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, the nort ...
* National parks and nature reserves of Israel *
Tourism in Israel Tourism in Israel is one of Israel's major sources of income, with a record 4.55 million tourist arrivals in 2019, and, in 2017, contributed NIS 20 billion to the Israeli economy making it an all-time record. Israel offers a plethora of historica ...
*
Wildlife of Israel The wildlife of Israel includes the flora and fauna of Israel, which is extremely diverse due to the country's location between the temperate and the tropical zones, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the desert in the east. Species ...


References


External links


''Owning Extinction: Tracing Rhetorical Figurations of the Last Crocodile in Palestine''
the history of the last crocodile. By Elizabeth Bentley (USA), 2020. Accessed Feb 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Taninim, Nahal Rivers of Israel Nature reserves in Israel