About 3,000 paraspanic bats that moved to the outpost were counted for the first time on the border with Jordan: one of the main problems suffered by insectivorous bats in recent years is damage to their habitats and lodgings. Natural caves are currently inhabited by shepherds in the Bedouin diaspora, agriculture and settlement development harm natural habitats and drive them out of their habitats.
Insect bats - Persephones and small visnovs, observed in a bat survey, photo: Assaf Mizrahi, Israel Nature and Parks Authority
How did the abandoned outpost become a royal castle for insectivorous bats?
Amos Sabah, an ecologist at the Nature and Parks Authority and the Civil Administration, explains: "A situation was created here that combined a number of factors. After the IDF abandoned the outposts as part of the peace treaties with Jordan, the outposts became the property of animals that agreed to live in them. The bats' natural habitats are mainly caves that were captured by the man who used them for his needs, pushed out of them, and thus the outposts turned out to be not so good alternative to habitation, so we are helping them today to acclimatize to them in a better way We were happy to discover bats in an outpost that we had not surveyed before. In addition, at the Saipan 'Mouse' post at Allenby Bridge, an outpost that was not previously surveyed, about 3000,300 persephones were identified. At the Rotem outpost, about 150 large individuals were identified, compared to about <> individuals in previous years."
The Nature and Parks Authority notes that the most common species is small moss (47%) found in most of the sites surveyed. Large Yaznov – a species in danger, was found to be concentrated mainly in the sitting structure in the breasts (25%). The presence of a large population of persephones found at the 'mouse' post suggests a possible explanation for the question of where the persephones in the pheasant outpost had gone.
Insect bats - Persephones,
Guy Sally, Director of the Israel Defense Forces for Nature – Commanders Take Responsibility for Their Environment: "Israel's territory is included in 2% of the land areas found to be the most important for global biodiversity, and is therefore of exceptional importance in this area. Like other units in the IDF that help preserve biodiversity, the Jordan Valley Brigade chose to adopt the rare and endangered population of insectivorous bats, and adapted the abandoned outposts to a suitable home for them. A decade later, we are seeing the proliferation of these special bats thanks to measures installed that simulate their natural habitats, in caves."
About a decade ago, the "Nature Defense Forces – Commanders Take Responsibility for Their Environment" project was established, under the Technology and Logistics Division. The project was established in order to assist the IDF and its commanders in assuming its responsibility for protecting the environment, nature, and heritage sites in the areas under its responsibility and in its operating environment. To this end, the IDF, led by the Technology and Maintenance Corps of the Technology and Logistics Division and the Ministry of Defense, has joined forces with Israel's leading environmental organizations – the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the Nature and Parks Authority and the Israel Antiquities Authority – and together they operate about 60 activity centers in all the soldiers and arms, in the air, sea and on land, from the Galilee finger to Eilat, from Samaria to the shores of the Mediterranean.
The commanders and soldiers of the units embark on activities in the field of the units, while receiving professional advice and guidance from the partners of the project, and also receive educational content and training on environmental, natural and heritage issues. The project has established itself as a significant focus in protecting the environment, nature and heritage sites in the areas of activity of the units active in the project, and is now working to leverage the implementation in the field for broad and IDF-wide and long-term implementation, as well as to find practical solutions for dealing with the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis.
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