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Once upon a time a whole series of books about the Natural History of Egypt were published. These books are maybe getting a bit old today but still contain a lot of valuable information about the relations between humans and Nature/animals in ancient Egypt.
And they are a feast for the eye with a lot of beautiful and interesting pictures.
Hunting, fishing and animals in ancient Egypt The ancient Egyptian culture is full of rich traditions and practices that up to the present day we continue to learn more about. Wildlife in ancient Egypt used to be very different compared to the wildlife currently present in Egypt for several factors and variables. Animals such as elephants, rhinoceros, and hippopotami used to live in different parts of Egypt, however these animals do not exist in Egypt today. Animals were very much appreciated and important in Egyptian history; even some deities were represented as animals; as Hathor the goddess of fertility, love and beauty was represented as a cow.
Ancient Egyptian Animals The role of an animal in the modern age is primarily that of companionship or food. Older cultures, however, did not always behold animals in such a manner. In fact, cultures like that of ancient Egypt used some animals for survival purposes, and associated others with gods and goddesses, using them for sacrificial purposes. Certain animals were deified, according to their beliefs.
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On a painting from the early Dynasty 4 tomb of Nefermaat and Itet at Meidum two strange Geese are depicted. Researchers now wonder if they belong to an extinct species, or if they just are an example on artistic license.
quote:Animals depicted by ancient artisans have the potential to provide insights into taxa encountered by past cultures. While qualitative approaches are commonly used to identify animals to species level, the use of more objective approaches has the potential to reduce bias and uncertainty. Here, I used the ‘Tobias criteria’, a quantitative method for delimitating avian species in a novel way to examine the ‘Meidum Geese’ from the Chapel of Itet with their purported candidate taxa. I compared the visual appearance of the colouration and body markings in this painting with greylag geese (Anser anser), bean geese (A. fabalis), greater white-fronted geese (A. albifrons), and red-breasted geese (Branta ruficollis). I found of the three different graphically represented geese types, one form resembles greylag geese (but did not exclude bean geese), a second form is like greater white-fronted geese, but the third goose type did not plausibly match with red-breasted geese. Considering that other faunal representations from the Chapel of Itet show accurate modern species-level portrayals, it is unclear if the third ‘Meidum Geese’ type depicts a novel phenotype of an extinct taxon, misrepresentation of an extant but locally extinct taxon, or is a fabrication that has incorporated several goose features.
Assessing ’Meidum Geese’ species identification with the ‘Tobias criteria’ Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , 2021 Assessing Meidum Geese
Tomb Painting Known as Egypt’s ‘Mona Lisa’ May Depict Extinct Goose Species Smithsonian Magazine 2021 Extinct goose species?
The mysterious geese are the ones second from the right on the painting
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^ When it comes to artwork, the Egyptians tended to portray idealized forms particularly of people. So perhaps the same is true with animals meaning that although they may take liberties to 'perfect' or 'beautify' a subject that doesn't mean they would whole-sale fabricate things in terms of appearance. So I'm guessing that the painting really does show an actual species of goose.
By the way, geese and ducks were sacred to the Earth god Geb and were typically slaughtered for ritual offerings as well as food.
Another example of an extinct bird species would be the bennu, a species of heron sacred to Egyptians because it was believed to be the ba and totem of the sun god Re.
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It is indeed exciting to see which species (both extinct and extant) the ancient Egyptians interacted with and what they meant to them.
Here is a video with cat humor and the role of some animals by the "Vintage" Egyptologist couple Colleen Darnell and John Darnell
quote: Egyptologists John and Colleen Darnell discuss unusual images of animals on papyri and ostraca from the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina, the religious significance of monkeys and geese, and how an ancient Egyptian love poem can help us understand a painting of a cat hugging a goose beneath the throne of queen Tiye.
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The book Mammals of Ancient Egypt by Dale Osborn and Jana Osbornova became the starting point for further research about the fauna of Ancient Egypt, conducted by Justin Yeakel at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his colleague.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the study we can follow how different Mammals have died out or been able to survive in Egypt from Late pleistocen and onwards in time. Once there roamed at least 37 large bodied (more than 4 kg) land mammals in Egypt, today just a few of them still live there. In the study we learn about their fate and about ecological change.
quote:Abstract The dynamics of ecosystem collapse are fundamental to determining how and why biological communities change through time, as well as the potential effects of extinctions on ecosystems. Here, we integrate depictions of mammals from Egyptian antiquity with direct lines of paleontological and archeological evidence to infer local extinctions and community dynamics over a 6,000-y span. The unprecedented temporal resolution of this dataset enables examination of how the tandem effects of human population growth and climate change can disrupt mammalian communities. We show that the extinctions of mammals in Egypt were nonrandom and that destabilizing changes in community composition coincided with abrupt aridification events and the attendant collapses of some complex societies. We also show that the roles of species in a community can change over time and that persistence is predicted by measures of species sensitivity, a function of local dynamic stability. To our knowledge, our study is the first high-resolution analysis of the ecological impacts of environmental change on predator–prey networks over millennial timescales and sheds light on the historical events that have shaped modern animal communities.
quote:Originally posted by Archeopteryx: Here is a video with cat humor and the role of some animals by the "Vintage" Egyptologist couple Colleen Darnell and John Darnell
quote: Egyptologists John and Colleen Darnell discuss unusual images of animals on papyri and ostraca from the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina, the religious significance of monkeys and geese, and how an ancient Egyptian love poem can help us understand a painting of a cat hugging a goose beneath the throne of queen Tiye.
I watched the video a while ago and it is very interesting. I forgot that the goose was sacred to Amun as well, and yes there was religious symbolism as well as pain humor in the cat and mouse depictions.
cat slaying serpent
The cat likely symbolizes Sekhmet while the serpent represents Apep the god of darkness and chaos.
Here are a couple of other funny Egyptian animal cartoons.
I also think that like in other parts of Africa, animals served as characters in folks stories and that some of these cartoon depictions actually portrayed stories with animal allegories.
By the way, I totally agree in the last source you cited that Egyptian artwork especially predynastic art in the form of rock paintings and petroglyphs did indeed depict fauna that became extinct or are no longer found in the North African region. In fact, there is a theory among Egyptologists that the Egyptians preserved the memory of Holocene Green North Africa similar to the 'Dream Time' of Australian Aborigines who also experienced a similar climate change. What's interesting is that the Egyptians have a tradition that when the lands dried up many of the animals retreated to Ta-Neter (God Land) to south, which is why the Egyptians greatly desired animals from farther south like giraffes, elephants, ostriches, and monkeys.
Indeed many of these 'godly' African animals had parts (pelts of plumage) that were essential to the religious rites and worship. For example ostrich feathers were part of royal and priestly headdresses especially sacred to the god Amun, and leopard skin was the very garment of priests especially the sem priests of the cult of the pharaoh. Interestingly both are part of the religious regalia of many African cultures especially Nilotic peoples.
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This painted limestone fragment came from the mortuary temple of the Egyptian Pharaoh Sahure at Abusir, Egypt. It depicts Syrian bears and a vessel (possibly tributary). Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty, 2496-2483 BCE. On display at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany.
Egyptian Painting of Syrian Bears
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Tazarah
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Scorpionfish from within the mortuary complex of Hatshepsut, the first female Pharaoh (1500 BC)
Mereruka was a vizier to the Pharaoh Teti (2323 BC). Fish species include: Tilapia, eels, puffer fish, catfish, elephant fish, mullet, carp, Nile perch, upside-down catfish, and moonfish.
Kagemni was a vizier during the time of King Djoser (2649 BC). Men fish from a papyrus boat. One man fishes with a multi-hooked line; another holds a landing net. Fish species in this scene include: carp, mullet, catfish, upside-down catfish, elephant fish, tilapia, Nile perch, and eel. On the left side of the panel – note the frog and grasshopper resting on Shining Pondweed (Potamogeton lucens) that is still found throughout the Nile today.
We can only imagine that the fishermen of Ancient Egypt were a lot like us. Fishing was a popular pastime – it provided an opportunity for either solitude or camaraderie. Like today, some fished by themselves and others, in groups. Many did it for sport and/or food. Others made their living from it. They fished from banks and in boats or rafts that were made from papyrus and other reeds. The Ancient Egyptian anglers also used a variety of techniques, including baited hooks, hand nets, drag-nets, fish baskets or weir traps, and harpoons.
Hooks were carved from pieces of bone, wood, shell or ivory. Based on the results from archaeological finds, fishhooks averaged 1/3” – 7” in length. Eventually, the Egyptians evolved and began crafting their hooks from copper and bronze. When this happened is a source of conflict. Most sources place metal fishhooks in later dynasties (Dynasty XII; 1991-1778 BC); however, a famous Egyptologist by the name of Sir William Flinders Petrie dated one specimen of a barbed, copper fishhook at 2500 BC. This latter scenario seems probable as the period was well into the Bronze Age, which began in 3300 BC. In any case, the Egyptians gave barbed metal fishhooks to the world.
Fishing line was made from the fibers of flax or linen. The Egyptians did not use a loose mass of fibers but a group of individually twisted threads. Certainly, the diameter and “Lb. test” of the line would be related to the number of linen threads. Sportsmen and recreational fishermen would use one or more hooks on a single line, and those who depended on fishing as a livelihood used multiple lines to improve their catches. Evidently, the Ancient Egyptians didn’t have to worry about legal restrictions with multi-hooked and multiple lines! The fishing lines were initially weighted with clay, but the Egyptians eventually upgraded to lead sinkers by 1200 BC. The British Museum of Natural History has one of these sinkers in its collection.
The fishermen baited their hooks with various items such as stale bread, dates, meat, small fish, and undoubtedly, insects. In addition, they used ground bait, something that was sprinkled on top of the water to attract fish. It is interesting that they never used a small fish to target a larger fish of the same species – they may have considered it sacrilegious.
Fishing in Ancient Egypt was quite simple. The fisherman threw out his baited hook and rested the line on his index finger. He waited for some nibbles and tugs, and then set the hook. So, there you have it – the Ancient Egyptians were bottom bouncers! You have to wonder how upset they became when they snagged the bottom. Was it a big deal to lose hooks and weights, or did they have an ample supply in their tackle boxes? And yes, they had tackle boxes that were made from wood or woven reeds.
The tombs do not reveal the use of fishing rods or floats in the Old Kingdoms. Both of these came into existence sometime in later dynasties. Given that they knew how to fish the bottom then, it isn’t much of a stretch to consider that they could also devise floats to carry the bait closer to the surface – and alert the angler to a strike. Accordingly, there exist reports of cork floats used by Egyptians but it remains unclear when this practice came about. Perhaps, one day, archaeologists will uncover evidence of this.
Fishing with nets was common in Ancient Egypt for those fishing for need or livelihood. These were made from linen and constructed with knots that have been passed down from generation to generation. In fact, these knots (reef, mesh, and half) are universal among net fishermen today. However, fishnets were a costly item that many fishermen could not afford, and it was for this reason that the less affluent fishermen were restricted to fishing on the bank with lines.
Drag-net fishing involved more than a couple of fishermen. These nets were weighted with lumps of clay at the bottom and buoyed at the top with wooden floats. Fishermen would wade through the water and encircle a group of fish with their drag-net. Upon trapping the fish, they would strike them with clubs or kill them with harpoons. During later dynasties, drag-nets made use of lead weights and cork floats.
Fish traps, or weir baskets, were made from the branches of willow trees. These wickerwork basket-traps were conical in shape and used in one of two ways: For the first way, the Egyptians strategically placed these in the paths of migrating fish; for example, fish swimming upstream. The trap had the effect of corralling fish as they swam with the current. The second way involved placing the traps in water that was adjacent to submerged vegetation. People would walk into the vegetation and scatter the fish away from the shoreline and into the trap. Once captured, the fish were either clubbed or harpooned. Even today, fishermen use weir traps in various places throughout the world.
The River Nile held a variety of fish, including Nile perch, tilapia, mullet, puffer fish, moonfish, mullets, carp, eels, elephant fish, catfish, and others. One of these catfish actually swam upside-down and was appropriately called, “the upside-down catfish.” At present, it is only found in the Nile below the Aswan dam. Another catfish that was well known to the Ancient Egyptians was the electric catfish. When fishermen caught these in nets, the fish produced sufficient electricity that shocked the fishermen. The volleys of electricity were strong enough to cause the fishermen to release their grip on the nets, allowing the electric catfish and all the other fish to escape! This species is still found in the Nile today. Finally, during the Greco-Roman period in Egypt, some fish, such as the Nile perch and the elephant fish, were considered sacred. There were prohibitions against keeping and eating these fish. Fishermen took great care while removing these fish from their nets to ensure their survival – and to avoid severe punishments! Both of these are doing fine in Egypt today.Posts: 26551 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Here and there one can read that the electric catfish was used as a means to treat pain, for example when a patient had arthritis. It is said that the doctors handled the electric fishes with wooden sticks and applied them on the parts of the patients body which hurt. Today we have similar treatments for pain, but not with electric fishes but with modern electronics Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.
One can read references to this kind of treatment in many modern articles and descriptions. Malapterurus electricus
I also heard about it in a radio program about ancient Egyptian medicine.
But it would be interesting to know what are the ancient sources that tells about this particular treatment? Are there Egyptian sources telling about it, or later Greek authors?
quote: This is an Old World catfish. It is reputed that Doctors in ancient Egypt used shocks from the Electric Catfish to reduce the pain of arthritis. This trait is still used today in some areas. It also has the earliest reference of them as hieroglyphics on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs some 5,000 years ago.
Maybe I have to order this book to find out more. There is a chapter on The shocking Catfish of the Nile but that page can not be seen in the preview on Amazon.
The tombs do not reveal the use of fishing rods or floats in the Old Kingdoms. Both of these came into existence sometime in later dynasties. Given that they knew how to fish the bottom then, it isn’t much of a stretch to consider that they could also devise floats to carry the bait closer to the surface – and alert the angler to a strike. Accordingly, there exist reports of cork floats used by Egyptians but it remains unclear when this practice came about. Perhaps, one day, archaeologists will uncover evidence of this.
A couple of examples of fishing with rods:
This is from the Tomb of Knumhotep, Beni Hasan, Dynasty XII
and this is from the tomb of Nebwenenef, Thebes, dynasty XIX
Both pictures from the book Fish and Fishing in Ancient Egypt by Douglas J. Brewer and Renée F. Friedman (1989)
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Lions were considered sacred and associated with royal and divine power. The specific subspecies of lion familiar to the Egyptians is the Barbary or North African lion which became extinct in the wild in the 20th century and only remnants survive in zoo captivity. North African lions are distinguished from Sub-Saharan lions by having spots in their coat.
Lions of Egypt It is interesting that, during most of the Pharaonic period, lions were relatively few in Egypt, but were at the same time significant to the Pharaonic Egyptians. Today, we know of no wild lions in Egypt. Their number declined steadily as the more lush climate of the prehistoric period faded into the desert climate that most of Egypt knows today, and as the inhabitable land of Egypt became more and more densely populated. However, it was probably during the prehistoric times that they became a symbol with religious associations. It is likely that the connection between the king and the lion grew from the tribal chiefs hunting these animals during the Predynastic period, just as they did Hippopotamus and Crocodiles, which no longer inhabit Egyptian waters above Lake Nasser.
Even today in Africa, lionskins are only worn by kings or warriors who slew lions like the Massai.
Lions usually lived on the edges of the desert, and so they became known as the guardians of the eastern and western horizons, where the sun rose and set. Hence, in the hieroglyph for Horizon (akhet), they sometimes replaced the eastern and western mountains symbols. Headrests also took the form of this same akhet sign at times, supported by two lions, as with an example from Tutankhamun's tomb, where the flank Shu, the god of the air, who supports the head of the king, representing the sun. In fact, the sun itself could be depicted as a lion. Hence, we find in Chapter 62 of the Book of the Dead, "May I be granted power over the waters like the limbs of Seth, for I am he who crosses the sky, I am the Lion of Re, I am the Slayer who eats the foreleg, the leg of beef is extended to me...".
^ The last sentence above refers to the celestial lion or the constellation leo.
A Greek papyrus mentions lions that were buried in the sacred animal necropolis at Saqqara, but these have never been found. They were sometimes regarded as lion cubs created by Atum. Most lion deities (and cat deities) were female, of which Sekhmet was almost certainly the most important. In fact, her cult was eventually merged with Mut and the cat goddess Bastet. She was though to be one of the "Eyes of Re", but in one myth, she was almost responsible for the destruction of mankind. In the Delta site of Greek Leontopolis, (ancient Taremu, modern Tell el-Muqdam), the lion god Mihos (Mahes, Greek Mysis or Miysis), the son of Bastet or sometimes of Sekhmet, was sacred. It was not uncommon to find Shu and Tefnut, who were linked with the paired lion god Ruty, venerated in the form of a lion at this site Wadget, another goddess usually portrayed as a cobra, was another "Eye of Re" and therefore she could sometimes also appear in lion form depicted as a cobra with a lion's head.
Archaeologists Reveal Rare Mummified Lion Cubs Unearthed in Egypt Over the weekend, the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry unveiled a huge cache of ancient artifacts and mummified animals—most significantly, the rare remains of at least two lion cubs—discovered in Saqqara, a necropolis located just south of Cairo.
What's interesting is that the majority of lion deities in Egypt were female (Tefnut, Sekhmet, Mehit, Menhit, etc.) though males existed (Maahes, Aker). This is perhaps because most lions seen hunting were female.
‘Barbary lion reintroduction in north Africa is possible but needs long-term plans’ The Barbary Lion used to be found in north Africa, in the region stretching from Morocco in the west to Egypt in the east. This subspecies of lion was well known in antiquity when it was used in amphitheatres throughout the Roman Empire, mostly being killed for sport. It was hunted to extinction in the wild in the mid 20th century. Today, only a few individuals which descend from these lions, survive in captivity, mostly in zoos .
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Also in Meroe in todays Sudan they had a lion God, Apedemak. His consort was Amesemi.
quote: Apedemak or Apademak was a major deity in the Ancient Nubian Pantheon. Often depicted as a figure with a male human torso and a lion head, Apedemak was a war god worshiped by the Meroitic peoples inhabiting Nubia. He has no Egyptian counterpart. As a war god, Apedemak came to symbolize martial power, military conquest, and empire for the Meroitic peoples. Apedemak is also closely associated with Amun, the state-sponsored Egyptian deity during the preceding Napatan period, and is assumed to hold an equal level of importance.
Apedemak primarily appears during the Meroitic Period. It is unknown if worship of Apedemak as a lion god existed before. Some scholars have pointed that the worship of a lion god may be strongly rooted with Egyptian traditions dating before the New Kingdom. It is possible that other representations of lions, such as statutes and statuettes, may have been depictions of Apedemak. Nevertheless, at least by the 3rd century BCE, Apedemak appears to have become an important deity to the peoples living in Upper Nubia.
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Tukuler
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Enjoy these Keshli art pieces from The Arts of Ancient Nubia and Sudan
This motif is best known from a Mid-East example. Apparently it was popular in Kush too. Don't blame the caption on me. The book has one on a bowl too.
Among the pleasures of an Egyptian noble's life were hunting excursions in the Nile marshes to fish and hunt birds. Papyrus rafts or light boats such as this were used for such excursions. Here, Meketre and his son or companion are watching the hunters from a light shelter made of woven reeds and decorated with two large shields. In the prow, two men aim harpoons at some fish, while amidships a kneeling fisherman removes the harpoon from a bolti fish. An earlier catch, a large Mormyrus, is being presented to Meketre. A bunchof coots, caught previously in a clapnet, are presented by a man and a woman, who wears a bead net over her shoulders, brings a duck. The poles of the clapnet are now lashed to the grilles of the shelter; the net pegs lie on the deck. The presence of females from a noble's family in such marsh scenes is a recurring theme in Egyptian art.
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The book Between Heaven and Earth - Birds in Ancient Egypt from 2012 is now free to download as a PDF. It has contributions from several authors and also includes many beautiful pictures.
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^ 'Between Heaven and Earth' is a perfect title since birds as creatures of flight were seen as messengers to the heavens. From what I've read birds were like fish in that they were both sources of food (particularly fowl) and symbols of fertility and power. Those species that were considered totems of deities and thus sacred were taboo for consumption (like certain fish) but apparently were reared as sacrificial offerings.
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More and more Egyptian tombs become available as virtual tours on the internet. From one of them, the tomb of Menna (18th dynasty) comes this beautiful scene with Menna and his family catching fish and fowl.
quote:Ancient Egyptian tomb scenes often had multiple meanings. Here Menna and his family are enjoying catching fish and birds in the afterlife, but this activity also represents the tomb owner dominating over the chaos of nature and restoring order, or "Maat". In addition, the tilapia fish depicted was associated with rebirth.
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Natural climate changes paired with human activities have made some Egyptian and other North African animals go extinct.
Now we can read about some of these creatures and how they were depicted in art in the book A guide to Extinct Animals of Ancient Egypt
quote: Ancient Egyptian culture holds an enduring fascination for many, despite not existing for close to two millennia. This culture emerged not from the impoverished desert we know today to surround it, but from a Green Sahara covered with grasslands, woodlands, and lakes teeming with animals. Ancient Egyptian artwork portrays an abundance of life, depicting the animals they co-existed with thousands of years ago. While many closely match the body markings of modern species, others differ from any modern animal. Were such differences the result of artistic license, or do they provide a visual record of animals now extinct? “A Guide to Extinct Animals of Ancient Egypt” speculates some animals depicted in Egyptian art may represent unknown taxa that are now extinct, and beautifully reconstructs these animals alongside the ancient works. This book is for those who want to find another layer of intrigue offered by ancient Egyptian culture or with an interest in a diversity of birds and mammals.
86 percent of big animals in the Sahara Desert are extinct or endangered Bigger than all of Brazil, among the harshest ecosystems on Earth, and largely undeveloped, one would expect that the Sahara desert would be a haven for desert wildlife. One would anticipate that big African animals—which are facing poaching and habitat loss in other parts of the world—would thrive in this vast wilderness. But a new landmark study in Diversity and Distributions finds that the megafauna of the Sahara desert are on the verge of total collapse.
“While global attention has been focused on [biodiversity] hotspots, the world’s largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic decline in megafauna,” the researchers write.
Looking at 14 large-bodied animals, the study found that 86 percent of them (ten of the species) were either extinct or endangered. Four of them (28 percent) are already extinct in the region. The Bubal hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus) is gone forever while the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) is extinct in the wild, although there are efforts to re-introduce it. Meanwhile, two of the Sahara’s once top predators are gone: the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and the African lion (Panthera leo).
Megafauna that are still around aren’t doing much better. The dama gazelle (Nanger dama), the addax (Addax nasomaculatus), and the Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) are all on the razor-edge of extinction with each one listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The dama gazelle and the addax are absent from 99 percent of their historic range; less than 500 dama gazelles survive, while the addax is down to less than 300 animals. Meanwhile the Saharan cheetah is only found in 10 percent of its range with only 250 left. Another top predator—the leopard—is only found in 3 percent of its range. Even the North African ostrich (Struthio camelus camelus)—the world’s biggest—has lost 99.8 percent of its range.
“Greater conservation support and scientific attention for the region might have helped to avert these catastrophic declines,” the researchers write. “The Sahara serves as an example of a wider historical neglect of deserts and the human communities who depend on them.”
Of the 14 species, only one species is found in over half of its historical range: the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana). Still even this ibex is currently listed as Vulnerable due to overhunting.
The researchers say that there are likely a number of reasons for the catastrophic declines. Hunting is widespread across the region and has likely decimated populations of prey and the predators who depend on them. In addition, the notoriously extreme environment coupled with political instability in many Saharan countries has likely hampered conservation efforts.
“However, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that lack of financial support and scientific attention have also played a role,” the researchers note.
Climate change is also a rising threat in the region, both to wildlife and local communities.
“The velocity of climate change in desert biomes is predicted to be among the fastest, while that in tropical forests comparatively low,” the researchers contend. “Adaptation to the impacts of climate change in deserts is thus likely to be particularly urgent.”
The scientists say the plight of the Sahara’s big species is mirrored by that of the region’s local communities, which have long been neglected by the international community.
“As with desert biodiversity, the plight of desert-dwelling people has gained little global attention,” the write. “The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), a convention specifically designed to address the needs of such communities, remains one of the weakest of the UN conventions. Lack of funding and political will have meant that progress towards the UNCCD’s goal of reversing land degradation and desertification has been elusive. Meanwhile the people living in these environments continue to be perceived as peripheral and unimportant and are neglected by political and business communities.”
Not all the news out of the Sahara is bleak, however. Niger recently established the Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve, home to addax, dama gazelle, and even Saharan cheetah. The new protected area is larger than Portugal. Meanwhile, Chad has proposed to reintroduce scimitar-horned oryx into the wild in its Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve.
“Given low human densities and that over 90 percent of tropical arid and hyperarid lands remain uncultivated, management of natural resources in desert ecosystems may be substantially cheaper than maintaining or restoring tropical forest habitats,” the researchers write.
Contrary to popular belief, the world’s deserts host surprising biodiversity, even if found in lower abundance than other ecosystems. Many desert species have adapted specifically to the harsh conditions and are found no-where else.
“Deserts are home to 25 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species and, combined with xeric shrublands, are among the top three richest biomes for terrestrial vertebrates,” the authors write.
Although I am curious about species that lived during the green Holocene and even earlier.
quote:Originally posted by Archeopteryx: More and more Egyptian tombs become available as virtual tours on the internet. From one of them, the tomb of Menna (18th dynasty) comes this beautiful scene with Menna and his family catching fish and fowl.
quote:Ancient Egyptian tomb scenes often had multiple meanings. Here Menna and his family are enjoying catching fish and birds in the afterlife, but this activity also represents the tomb owner dominating over the chaos of nature and restoring order, or "Maat". In addition, the tilapia fish depicted was associated with rebirth.
The whole fishing and fowling scenes in tombs are actually symbolic of regeneration and restoring of life and therefore victory over chaos. Both fish and birds are symbols of fertility and the act of spearing a fish is sexual in nature being a metaphor for copulation. fowl, particularly geese are the totem of the earth god Geb used in sacrifices and the hunting of ducks is reminiscent of this.
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quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: ^ No surprise there.
Although I am curious about species that lived during the green Holocene and even earlier.
One can see some of the fauna that are either totally extinct, or locally extinct, in the rock art of Sahara. One example is the giant buffalo Syncerus antiquus who gave rise to the name of a whole style of early rock art, the Bubalus style (after the earlier name of the giant buffalo Bubalus antiquus).
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Egypt also once hosted two species of crocodile, the well known Nile crocodile ( Crocodylys niloticus ) and the west African crocodile ( Crocodylus suchus). The later disappeared from the Nile sometime in the 1920s.
quote: In ancient Egypt
The people of ancient Egypt worshiped Sobek, a crocodile-god associated with fertility, protection, and the power of the pharaoh. They had an ambivalent relationship with Sobek, as they did (and do) with C. suchus: sometimes they hunted crocodiles and reviled Sobek, and sometimes they saw him as a protector and source of pharaonic power. C. suchus was known to be more docile than the Nile crocodile and was chosen by the ancient Egyptians for spiritual rites, including mummification. DNA testing found that all sampled mummified crocodiles from the grotto of Thebes, grotto of Samoun, and Upper Egypt belonged to this species whereas the ones from a burial pit at Qubbet el-Hawa are believed on the basis of anatomy to consist of a mix of the two species.
Sobek was depicted as a crocodile, as a mummified crocodile, or as a man with the head of a crocodile. The center of his worship was in the Middle Kingdom city of Arsinoe in the Faiyum Oasis (now Al Fayyum), known as "Crocodilopolis" by the Greeks. Another major temple to Sobek is in Kom-Ombo; other temples were scattered across the country.
Historically, C. suchus inhabited the Nile River in Lower Egypt along with the Nile crocodile. Herodotus wrote that the Egyptian priests were selective when picking crocodiles. Priests were aware of the difference between the two species, C. suchus being smaller and more docile, making it easier to catch and tame. Herodotus also indicated that some Egyptians kept crocodiles as pampered pets. In Sobek's temple in Arsinoe, a crocodile was kept in the pool of the temple, where it was fed, covered with jewelry, and worshipped. When the crocodiles died, they were embalmed, mummified, placed in sarcophagi, and then buried in a sacred tomb. Many mummified C. suchus specimens and even crocodile eggs have been found in Egyptian tombs.
Spells were used to appease crocodiles in ancient Egypt, and even in modern times Nubian fishermen stuff and mount crocodiles over their doorsteps to ward against evil.
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Ramses IIs temple at Beit et-Wali in Nubia was originally decorated with beautiful reliefs and paintings. In some of these pictures one can see Nubians bearing tributes to Ramses. A part of the tribute consists of animals, both domestic and wild. Here one can see different sorts of antelopes or gaselles, ostriches, monkeys, cheetahs (or leopards), lions and even a giraffe
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quote:Originally posted by Archeopteryx: Egypt also once hosted two species of crocodile, the well known Nile crocodile ( Crocodylys niloticus ) and the west African crocodile ( Crocodylus suchus). The later disappeared from the Nile sometime in the 1920s.
quote: In ancient Egypt
The people of ancient Egypt worshiped Sobek, a crocodile-god associated with fertility, protection, and the power of the pharaoh. They had an ambivalent relationship with Sobek, as they did (and do) with C. suchus: sometimes they hunted crocodiles and reviled Sobek, and sometimes they saw him as a protector and source of pharaonic power. C. suchus was known to be more docile than the Nile crocodile and was chosen by the ancient Egyptians for spiritual rites, including mummification. DNA testing found that all sampled mummified crocodiles from the grotto of Thebes, grotto of Samoun, and Upper Egypt belonged to this species whereas the ones from a burial pit at Qubbet el-Hawa are believed on the basis of anatomy to consist of a mix of the two species.
Sobek was depicted as a crocodile, as a mummified crocodile, or as a man with the head of a crocodile. The center of his worship was in the Middle Kingdom city of Arsinoe in the Faiyum Oasis (now Al Fayyum), known as "Crocodilopolis" by the Greeks. Another major temple to Sobek is in Kom-Ombo; other temples were scattered across the country.
Historically, C. suchus inhabited the Nile River in Lower Egypt along with the Nile crocodile. Herodotus wrote that the Egyptian priests were selective when picking crocodiles. Priests were aware of the difference between the two species, C. suchus being smaller and more docile, making it easier to catch and tame. Herodotus also indicated that some Egyptians kept crocodiles as pampered pets. In Sobek's temple in Arsinoe, a crocodile was kept in the pool of the temple, where it was fed, covered with jewelry, and worshipped. When the crocodiles died, they were embalmed, mummified, placed in sarcophagi, and then buried in a sacred tomb. Many mummified C. suchus specimens and even crocodile eggs have been found in Egyptian tombs.
Spells were used to appease crocodiles in ancient Egypt, and even in modern times Nubian fishermen stuff and mount crocodiles over their doorsteps to ward against evil.
A crocodile from the tomb of Menna munching on a Tilapia
Interesting video about the west African crocodiles that once inhabited the Nile. It is only recently that they realized they were a separate species from the Nile crocodile and more docile.
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I wonder if there was any kind of niche partitioning between the West African and Nile crocodiles in Egypt? Seems that competition would have been intense given their apparent similarities.
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^^ The question is touched upon in a National Geographic article:
quote:What about their behaviour? There was anecdotal evidence about the weird behaviour of this crocodile. Many people, from Herodotus to current researchers, have described a sort of Nile crocodile that behaved differently. From my reading of the earlier literature about the exploration of the Nile, there were some suggestions of a smaller crocodile hanging out in the estuaries while the large, aggressive ones that everyone was afraid of lived in the middle of the Nile. Matt Shirley and I have thought about analysing the fine-scale ecological differences between the two to see if you could tap into how they could have overlapped in the Nile for so long before the recent period. Did they use different habitats or have different prey?
NB: Exceptionally large specimens can be found in all species of crocodilian.
The Nile crocodile was long thought to be the ‘big’ croc species found across Africa. Only recently has it become apparent through genetic analysis that the population to the West and into Central Africa is actually a different species: the West African Crocodile. This species also attains a large size and has a very similar lifestyle to the Nile crocodile. This species, interestingly, is the one that is found in several of the sacred pools in Africa where the crocodiles are worshipped by local peoples. Similarly, this species was more likely to be the one preserved in a mummified state by the ancient Egyptians and their crocodile culture! It has a different number of chromosomes to the Nile crocodile, so the separation of the two species was warranted.
I'm aware that the suchos species of crocodile has a much more docile nature compared to niloticus and so it is hypothesized that that the former was the actual totem of the benevolent god Sebek, while the latter was the animal associated with with Set or one of his Nubian allies to the south.
The crocodile skulls are a popular fetish in West African religions like vodun in which it is believed the skulls grant power and fertility.
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Talking about birds. Here is an interesting article in "Nile Magazine " about birds. It is the third among four articles about birds by the same author.
Jackson, Lesley 2018: ´SPIRIT BIRDS´ Nile Magazine 16
quote:Ancient Egypt was a land blessed with an abundance of birds. As well as the resident species, huge numbers passed through the country during the spring and autumn migrations. As the Egyptians believed that this world was a reflection of the divine realm, birds provided an important source of symbolism. Not only could they represent a specific deity, but also a number of concepts that were crucial to enjoying a successful afterlife. This is the third of Lesley Jackson’s four-part series on bird symbolism. Parts one and two were in issues #10 and #13 respectively.
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In the article above the inspiration to the Bennu bird is said to be the grey heron (Ardea cinerea)). But some think that the inspiration also could have come from the now extinct Bennu heron (Ardea bennuides).
quote:The Bennu heron (Ardea bennuides) is an extinct, very large heron from what is now the United Arab Emirates at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula.
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