PikiWiki Israel 20641 Geography of Israel

Nahal Taninim or Tanninim ( he, נחל תנינים, , Crocodiles Stream) or Wadi az-Zarka ( ar, وَادِي الزرقاء, , Blue Stream) is a river in Israel near the Arab town

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 Caesare ...

, 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 south of

Ma'agan Michael Ma'agan Michael ( he, מַעֲגַן מִיכָאֵל, ''lit.'' Michael's Anchorage) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast between Haifa and Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Counci ...

. It marks the southern limit of the Hof HaCarmel, or Carmel Coastal Plain region.

Etymology

The river is named for the Nile crocodiles 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 ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

, 30 January 2014 and is part of a German

taxidermic Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...

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 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.

History

The name ''River of Crocodiles'' dates as far back as the Third Crusade, 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 Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

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 and other songbirds. Birding along the Mediterranean
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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