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Central Canal Towpath

The Central Canal Towpath parallels the Indiana Central Canal in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The path is made primarily of crushed limestone along an urban greenway. On the northern end it connects to the Monon Trail in Broad Ripple and on the southern end it connects to 30th Street near Riverside Park. Along the towpath, destinations include Butler University, Newfields, and Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres. The walkway along the canal continues on the south side of I-65 as the Indianapolis Canal Walk.

Indianapolis Canal Walk

The Indianapolis Canal Walk is about 3 miles of multi-use trail paralleling the Indiana Central Canal in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The path is made paved with bridges connecting the two sides of the canal. The trail connects to the Indianapolis Cultural Trail with access to White River State Park, the Indiana State Government Center, and other attractions. The canal's construction began in 1836, and was redeveloped in the 1990s. The canal walk opened in 2001 as a linear, mixed use park.

Mountain gazelle

The mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), also called the True Gazelle or the Palestine Mountain Gazelle, is a species of gazelle previously found throughout the Levant but now observed in isolated areas primarily in Israel and the Hatay province of Turkey. Previously, the Cuvier's gazelle (G. cuvieri) were included as a subspecies of the mountain gazelle but both are recognized as separate species. There are approximately 5000 mountain gazelles in the wild with populations changing due primarily to anthropogenic causes. The mountain gazelle is classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Byzantine-era mosaic of gazelle in Caesarea, Israel

Description

Mountain gazelle are one of the few mammals in which both sexes have horns. Males have significantly larger horns with rings around them. Females will also have horns, but they will be thinner, smoother and shorter. Along with the horns, mountain gazelle are also sexually dimorphic in size, with males being larger than females. A mature male can range from 17 to 29.5 kg, while females are 16–25 kg in weight. Mountain gazelle can reach running speeds of up to 80 km/h (50 mph).

Population and range

Historically, mountain gazelles likely ranged from Israel, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and possibly the Sinai Peninsula. Mountain gazelle are most abundant in Israel, the West Bank in Palestine, and the Golan Heights, but are also found in parts of Turkey. An additional population with a genetic lineage marking it a mountain gazelle was rediscovered in Hatay province of Turkey with about 250 individuals.

The population of mountain gazelles has fluctuated in the last century including a high of approximately 10000 individuals in the 1980s down to 500 individuals in 1948. Current population estimates are likely about 5000 individuals.

Habitat

Gazelle have adapted to live in dry, arid conditions. A large amount of their moisture needs are obtained through the vegetation they consume, though they cannot go very long without water. They spend most of their time at the flat tops and crests of mountains, hills, and valleys. Adapting to an annual average temperature of 21-23 °C, gazelles prefer to bed on breezy, elevated areas to avoid the heat of the day. Around dawn and dusk, these antelope will be found cautiously traversing the hills to eat in light forests, fields, or rocky plateaus. Given their preference for elevation, it seems they are less adapted to hot, dry conditions than other ungulates, like the Dorcas gazelle; this diminutive antelope appears to have outcompeted the mountain gazelle throughout some of its range in the late Holocene era, during a period of climatic warming.

Ecology

The mountain gazelle is a crepuscular species; they are awake most of the day and sleep most of the night, but generally are always active in the early morning hours and around sunset. They are also very territorial within their herds, and typically stay in groups of three to eight individuals. There are two main herd-types in the mountain gazelle community, namely mother/baby “maternity” herds and bachelor male herds; older, solitary males patrol and stake out territories, as well.

Survival and reproduction

In the wild, mountain gazelle rarely survive past the age of eight, but can live up to 15 years in captivity with adequate care. By 12 months, a female gazelle can begin breeding. For males, 18 months is when they will start breeding. Being polygamous, and not spending their lives with only one partner, the mountain gazelle typical breeding season is during the early winter months. Females will give birth to one offspring per year, mostly around the months of April and May. A few days prior to giving birth, the mother will leave her herd for a time, and live in solitude. Upon its birth, the newborn is especially vulnerable to predation. For up to two months, the mother and her offspring will stay by themselves, the mother keeping her baby well-hidden in vegetation while she forages. The baby will not typically accompany their mother to graze for several weeks, relying solely on camouflage and lying perfectly still to avoid detection by carnivores. Upon her return, the mother watches out diligently for threats. Some predators include golden eagles, feral dogs, foxes, golden jackals, Arabian wolves and, in some areas, Arabian and Anatolian leopards. While young males will stay with their mother for only six months before departing to a herd of young males, young females will sometimes join their mother in the females’ herd.

Food

Grasses and shrubs are the gazelle’s most frequent source of food, with grazing being their preferred method of foraging. They are known to browse on low-hanging branches and young shoots as well, especially when their range encompasses that of the acacia tree. They can survive for long periods of time without a water source. Instead, they acquire water from succulent plants and dew droplets.

History

The mountain gazelle underwent a series of size changes during the late Pleistocene, being smallest during the early and middle Epipalaeolithic, and reaching their largest size in the early Late Epipalaeolithic. They then slightly shrunk before stabilizing in size, in the middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic. In the early and late Natufian, human impacts (such as hunting and living in more permanent settlements) may have driven gazelle numbers down enough so as to provide more food to each animal, thus increasing average body size. Later, the greater stability of food and water from agriculture and the avoidance of humans and livestock by gazelles may have similarly reduced population size and intraspecific competition for the gazelles and allow individual animals to grow larger on average.

In 1985, a large population of mountain gazelles built up through game conservation in two Israeli reserves, in the southern Golan Heights and Ramat Yissachar, was decimated by foot and mouth disease. To prevent such occurrences, a plan was drawn up to stabilize the female population at 1,000 in the Golan and 700 in Ramat Yissachar.

Threats and conservation

Mountain gazelles were hunted for food, however, in 1955 hunting mountain gazelles became illegal in Israel. A 2019 estimate found there are likely 300-1300 gazelles poached annually.

As the mountain gazelle's habitat has become a more urban area of the world, there are numerous threats that to the population. Habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, and collisions with cars are all anthropogenic threats to the gazelles. In areas with high human disturbance, gazelles tend to face predation from feral dogs causing the population recruitment rate to be low. Golden jackals are a historic predator of the gazelles, and a study of golden jackal diets in Park Britannia, central Israel found ungulates made up 70% of the jackal's diet, of which 14% of the ungulate biomass was gazelle. Gazelles may also be more susceptible to predation from golden jackals and wild boar in areas where cattle grazing is used to reduce fire risk.

Ongoing conservation efforts including protecting existing populations and restablishing gazelle populations. In 2008, the Supreme Court of Israel overturned the approval of a housing development in critical habitat where Gazella gazella gazella were listed as a petitioner on the supreme court case. Additional research on the mountain gazelle and it's close relatives the Dorcas gazelle and acacia gazelle are allowing for forensic identification of the gazelles to aide wildlife forensic scientists and law enforcement to enforce wildlife protection laws. Twelve mountain gazelles were released in Gazelle valley, Jerusalem where the population has rebounded from three to about 80 individuals in a 25 hectare fenced off portion of the park where they are protected from predators and car collisions.

The West Bank Segregation Wall, which was built by Israel between 2000 and 2005, poses a great ecological conundrum at it separates populations of many indigenous species on both sides including the Mountain Gazelle.

Subspecies

The Hatay mountain gazelle lives on the northern Syrian border and a population has been discovered in the Hatay Province of Turkey.

Historically, some others such as the Cuvier's gazelle (G. cuvieri) were included as a subspecies, but recent authorities consistently treat them as separate species.