Study: War Causing Dangerous Stress In Israel’s Animals

A new study carried out by researchers at Tel Aviv University found that Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has had a severely detrimental impact on the mental health of animals that could prove dangerous to their survival. 

The study, which focused on geckos and was jointly carried out by Shahar Dubiner, Prof. Shai Meiri and Prof. Eran Levin from the university’s School of Zoology, Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, alongside Dr. Reut Vardi from the University of Oxford, found that the sound of explosions caused by rocket fire causes stress and anxiety in the reptiles. 

The researchers found that the sound of bombing caused the geckos to display signs of stress and for their metabolic rate to sharply increase to double the rate when the animals were at rest. The signs of stress did not ease even four hours after the bombing. 

This increase in the metabolic rate, warn the researchers, could be life threatening if it becomes a chronic state. 

Furthermore, the geckos did not become used to the sound of explosions even after a month of continuous fighting.

“A state of stress is detrimental to both humans and animals. To compensate for the increase in oxygen consumption and depletion of energy reserves, animals need to eat more. Even if they manage to find food, in the process they expose themselves to predators and lose opportunities to reproduce,” said Levin .

 In a situation of ongoing conflict, such as the current reality in Gaza, the Gaza [border communities] and along the Israeli-Lebanese border, the metabolic cost can be significant and have a real impact on the energy reserves and activity periods of reptiles and other animals. This can exacerbate their conservation status, especially for species that are already endangered,” he said. 

The study was published in the journal Ecology.