What’s Moving in the Night Around Us?

I’m BD Greenman — your Cowboy Rabbi from Israel. Lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of hyenas near the area where we run our nighttime outdoor activities. That curiosity led me to set up two trail cameras to see what kind of wildlife moves through the land just beyond where we work.

A trail camera is a stationary camera with a motion detector. When an animal passes through its range, the camera turns on automatically and takes photos every few seconds. I was hoping to capture the hyenas on camera, but so far they’ve managed to stay out of frame.

What we did see was a ta’an (jackal) walking straight across the camera’s view. Did you know? Jackals are mostly active at night and early morning, using their excellent hearing to find food, and they can live in deserts, forests, and even near towns. Despite living close to people, jackals are shy animals that usually avoid human contact. *Source: Encyclopedia Britannica & Enviroliteracy

If you look closely at the next photo, you’ll notice a porcupine walking by. Did you know? Porcupines use sharp quills to protect themselves. They move slowly, climb well, and come out at night to eat plants and roots.

*Source: Live Science

Stay tuned for more photos from the wild. With a little luck, we’ll soon be sharing stories and images of the animals that live right here in our Beit Shemesh neighborhood.

More Pictures from the Trail Camera

If you look closely at the photo to the left, you’ll notice the glowing eyes of a porcupine—zoom out and you can see him clearly.

This is a picture of the exact same area during the day. Compare the day time photo to the night time photos above.

Watch this video to learn more about how a trail camera works.

• Sources

  1. Encyclopedia Britannica. “Jackal.” https://www.britannica.com/animal/jackal

  2. Live Science. “Porcupine Facts.”https://www.livescience.com/56326-porcupine-facts.html

  3. https://enviroliteracy.org/what-are-3-facts-about-jackals/