document_title: Bullitt

question_text: when does the car chase start in bullitt

text: Bullitt

text: Plot[edit]

text: Ambitious politician Walter Chalmers is about to present a surprise star witness in a Senate subcommittee hearing on organized crime. The witness, Johnny Ross, a defector from the Organization in Chicago, is put under San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) protective custody for the weekend, 40 hours until his Monday morning appearance.

text: To improve his own image, Chalmers requests SFPD Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, who is well-liked by the local media. Bullitt and his team, Delgetti and Stanton, put Ross under around-the-clock protection in a cheap hotel selected by Chalmers. At 1:00 a.m., while Bullitt is with his girlfriend Cathy, Stanton is on solo duty when the desk clerk unexpectedly calls to announce that Chalmers wants to come up. While Stanton checks by phone with Bullitt, Ross unchains the hotel room door. A pair of hitmen burst in and shoot Stanton and Ross, seriously wounding both.

text: At the hospital, Chalmers holds Bullitt responsible. Later, a second assassination attempt is thwarted by Bullitt, but Ross soon dies of his original injuries. Helped by a sympathetic Dr. Willard, who had been snubbed by Chalmers, Bullitt delays news of the death by sending the body to the morgue as a John Doe.

text: Bullitt and Delgetti investigate. Bullitt finds Weissberg, the cab driver who drove Ross to the hotel, and recreates Ross' journey when he arrived in town, learning that he made a long distance call from a phone booth. Bullitt's confidential informant, Eddy, reveals that Ross was caught stealing $2 million ($13.8 million today) from the Chicago Mob and fled to San Francisco after escaping an attempted hit in Chicago. Meanwhile, Chalmers serves Bullitt's captain with a writ of habeas corpus to force him to make Bullitt give up Ross.

text: While driving his 1968 Ford Mustang GT, Bullitt spots the Ross hitmen tailing him in a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. He maneuvers to get behind them, they attempt to flee, and a high-speed muscle car chase ensues through the hilly streets of San Francisco's Russian Hill and out onto the highway, ending when the Mustang forces the Charger off the road and into a gas station, causing a fiery explosion that incinerates the hitmen.

text: Bullitt and Delgetti face their superiors. They reveal that Ross is dead and that their only lead is phone records showing that Ross's call was to a Dorothy Simmons in a hotel in nearby San Mateo. It is Sunday; the detectives are given until Monday to follow up the lead. With his car out of commission, Bullitt gets a ride from Cathy in her Porsche 356. The detectives find Dorothy Simmons strangled to death. Cathy sees police rushing in and follows, fearing for Bullitt. Afterwards, horrified by the crime scene, she confronts him about his violent world, wondering whether she even really knows him.

text: Back in San Francisco, Bullitt and Delgetti search Simmons's luggage, discovering men's and women's clothing, empty ticket and passport folders, a travel brochure for Rome, and thousands of dollars in travelers' checks made out to Albert and Dorothy Renick. Bullitt requests passport information for the Renicks and a fingerprint check for the dead Ross.

text: Chalmers again confronts Bullitt, demanding a signed admission that Ross died while in his custody. Bullitt refuses. A facsimile of Albert Renick's passport application arrives, showing the man they thought was Ross was actually Renick, a used car salesman from Chicago with no criminal record. Bullitt points out that Chalmers was duped by the real Ross, who used Chalmers to fake his own death by setting up Renick (similar in appearance to Ross) to die, then murdered the wife to complete the cover-up.

text: Delgetti discovers reservations for the Renicks on an evening flight to Rome. He and Bullitt head to San Francisco International Airport to look for the real Ross, who must be traveling as Renick. They stake out the Rome flight gate, only to find that Ross has switched to an earlier flight to London that is already taxiing toward takeoff. Chalmers shows up to lay claim to the real Ross, even though he is now wanted for murder, and is again rebuffed by Bullitt.

text: Bullitt has the plane stopped, but Ross escapes. A foot chase across the busy runways ends in a tense pursuit inside the crowded passenger terminal. When Ross bolts and shoots a security guard, Bullitt shoots and kills Ross. Left behind, empty-handed, is Chalmers, who is driven off in a Lincoln limousine with a "Support Your Local Police" bumper sticker.

text: Early the next morning, Bullitt drives home. As he walks up to his apartment, he spots Cathy's car. He looks in and sees her sleeping in his bedroom, but he does not wake her. He takes off his gun and balances it on a banister. As he begins to wash up at the bathroom sink, he looks up into his own reflection and contemplates himself for a long moment.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Steve McQueen as Lt. Frank Bullitt
Robert Vaughn as Walter Chalmers
Jacqueline Bisset as Cathy
Don Gordon as Delgetti
Robert Duvall as Weissberg
Simon Oakland as Captain Sam Bennett
Norman Fell as Captain Baker
Georg Stanford Brown as Dr. Willard
Justin Tarr as Eddy
Carl Reindel as Carl Stanton
Felice Orlandi as Albert "Johnny Ross" Renick
Vic Tayback as Pete Ross (credited as Victor Tayback)
John Aprea as Killer
Robert Lipton as 1st Aide (to Chalmers)
Ed Peck as Westcott (reporter at hospital)
Pat Renella as Johnny Ross
Paul Genge as Mike (hitman, Dodge Charger)
Al Checco as Desk Clerk
Bill Hickman as Phil (driver/hitman, Dodge Charger)

text: Production[edit]

text: Bullitt was co-produced by McQueen's Solar Productions and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, the film pitched to Jack L. Warner as "doing authority differently."[14]

text: Development[edit]

text: Bullitt was director Yates' first American film. He was hired after McQueen saw his 1967 UK feature, Robbery, with its extended car chase.[15] Joe Levine, whose Embassy Pictures had distributed Robbery, did not much like it, but Trustman, who had seen the picture the very week he was writing the Bullitt chase, insisted that McQueen, Relyea and D'Antoni, none of whom had ever heard of Yates, see Robbery and consider Yates for director of Bullitt.[citation needed]

text: Casting[edit]

text: McQueen based the character of Frank Bullitt on San Francisco Inspector Dave Toschi, with whom he worked prior to filming.[16][17] McQueen even copied Toschi's unique "fast draw" shoulder holster. Toschi later became famous, along with Inspector Bill Armstrong, as the lead San Francisco investigators of the Zodiac Killer murders that began shortly after the release of Bullitt. Toschi is played by Mark Ruffalo in the film Zodiac, in which Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.) mentions that "McQueen got the idea for the holster from Toschi".[17][18]

text: Realism[edit]

text: Bullitt is notable for its extensive use of actual locations rather than studio sets, and its attention to procedural detail, from police evidence processing to emergency room procedures. Director Yates' use of the new lightweight Arriflex cameras allowed for greater flexibility in location shooting.[19]

text: Car chase[edit]

text: At the time of the film's release, the car chase scene generated prodigious excitement.[9] Leonard Maltin has called it a "now-classic car chase, one of the screen's all-time best."[10] Emanuel Levy wrote in 2003 that, "Bullitt contains one of the most exciting car chases in film history, a sequence that revolutionized Hollywood's standards."[11] In his obituary for Peter Yates, Bruce Weber wrote, "Mr. Yates’ reputation probably rests most securely on Bullitt (1968), his first American film – and indeed, on one particular scene, an extended car chase that instantly became a classic."[12] The editing of this scene likely won editor Frank P. Keller the Academy Award for Best Editing.[20]

text: Filming[edit]

text: The chase scene starts at 1h:05m into the film. The total time of the scene is 10 minutes and 53 seconds, beginning in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, at Columbus and Chestnut (although Bullitt first notices the hitmen following his car while driving west on Army, now Cesar Chavez, just after passing under Highway 101), followed by Midtown shooting on Hyde and Laguna Streets, with shots of Coit Tower and locations around and on Filbert and University Streets. The scene ends outside the city at the Guadalupe Canyon Parkway in Brisbane.[21] The route is geographically impossible if it is assumed to take place in real time.[22]

text: Two 1968 390 V8 Ford Mustang GT Fastbacks (325 hp) with four-speed manual transmissions were used for the chase scene, both lent by the Ford Motor Company to Warner Bros. as part of a promotional agreement. The Mustangs' engines, brakes and suspensions were heavily modified for the chase by veteran car racer Max Balchowsky. Ford also originally lent two Galaxie sedans for the chase scenes, but the producers found the cars too heavy for the jumps over the hills of San Francisco. They were replaced with two 1968 375 hp 440 Magnum V8-powered Dodge Chargers. The engines in both Chargers were left largely unmodified, but the suspensions were mildly upgraded to cope with the demands of the stunt work.[citation needed]

text: The director called for maximum speeds of about 75–80 miles per hour (121–129 km/h), but the cars (including the chase cars filming) at times reached speeds of over 110 miles per hour (180 km/h). Driver's point-of-view shots were used to give the audience a participant's feel of the chase. Filming took three weeks, resulting in nine minutes and 42 seconds of pursuit. Multiple takes were spliced into a single end product resulting in discontinuity: heavy damage on the passenger side of Bullitt's car can be seen much earlier than the incident producing it, and the Charger appears to lose five wheel covers, with different ones missing in different shots. Shooting from multiple angles simultaneously and creating a montage from the footage to give the illusion of different streets also resulted in the speeding cars passing the same vehicles at several different times, including, widely noted, a green Volkswagen Beetle.[23] At one point the Charger crashes into the camera in one scene and the damaged front fender is noticeable in later scenes. Local authorities did not allow the car chase to be filmed on the Golden Gate Bridge, but did permit it in Midtown locations including Bernal Heights and the Mission District, and on the outskirts of neighboring Brisbane.[24]

text: McQueen, an accomplished driver, drove in the close-up scenes, while stunt coordinator Carey Loftin, stuntman and motorcycle racer Bud Ekins, and McQueen's usual stunt driver, Loren Janes, drove for the high-speed part of the chase and performed other dangerous stunts.[25] Ekins, who doubled for McQueen in The Great Escape sequence where McQueen's character jumps over a barbed wire fence on a motorcycle, lays one down in front of a skidding truck during the Bullitt chase. The Mustang’s interior rear view mirror goes up and down depending on who is driving: when the mirror is up, McQueen is visible behind the wheel, when it is down, a stunt man is driving.

text: The black Dodge Charger was driven by veteran stunt driver Bill Hickman, who played one of the hitmen and helped with the chase scene choreography. The other hitman was played by Paul Genge, who played a character who had ridden a Dodge off the road to his death in an episode of Perry Mason ("The Case of the Sausalito Sunrise") two years earlier. In a magazine article many years later, one of the drivers involved in the chase sequence remarked that the Charger – with a larger engine (big-block 440 cu. in. versus the medium-block 390 cu. in.) and greater horsepower (375 versus 325) – were so much faster than the Mustang that the drivers had to keep backing off the accelerator to prevent the Charger pulling away from the Mustang.[24]

text: The last remaining Charger and one of the two Mustangs were scrapped after filming because of damage and liability concerns, while the other was sold to an employee of Warner Bros.[26] The car changed hands several times, with McQueen at one point making an unsuccessful attempt to buy it in late 1977. The current state and location of the surviving Mustang is largely unknown, but it is rumored that the Mustang is kept in a barn somewhere in the Ohio River Valley by an unknown owner.[27] In late February/early March 2017, classic Ford expert Kevin Marti conclusively determined from the VIN and other identifying information that a 1968 Ford Mustang found in a Baja California Sur [Mexico] junkyard is in fact the movie set Mustang reported to be scrapped, and the new co-owners plan to have it fully restored in the U.S.[28]

text: Editing[edit]

text: The editing of the car chase by Frank P. Keller likely won Keller the editing Oscar for 1968,[20] and has been included in lists of the "Best Editing Sequences of All-Time".[29] Paul Monaco has written, "The most compelling street footage of 1968, however, appeared in an entirely contrived sequence, with nary a hint of documentary feel about it – the car chase through the streets of San Francisco in Bullitt, created from footage shot over nearly five weeks. Billy Fraker, the cinematographer for the film, attributed the success of the chase sequence primarily to the work of the editor, Frank P. Keller. At the time, Keller was credited with cutting the piece in such a superb manner that he made the city of San Francisco a "character" in the film."[30] The editing of the scene was not without difficulties; Ralph Rosenblum wrote in 1979 that "those who care about such things may know that during the filming of the climactic chase scene in Bullitt, an out-of-control car filled with dummies tripped a wire which prematurely sent a costly set up in flames, and that editor Frank Keller salvaged the near-catastrophe with a clever and unusual juxtaposition of images that made the explosion appear to go off on time."[31] This chase scene has also been cited by critics as groundbreaking in its realism and originality.[32] In the release print and the print shown for many years, a scene in which the Charger actually hits the camera causing a red flare on screen, which many feel added to the realism, was edited out on DVD prints to the disappointment of many fans.[citation needed]

text: Music[edit]

text: The original score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. The tracks on the soundtrack album are alternative versions of those heard in the film, re-recorded by Schifrin with leading jazz musicians, including Bud Shank (flute), Ray Brown (bass), Howard Roberts (guitar) and Larry Bunker (drums).[33]

text: In 2000, the original arrangements as heard in the movie were recreated by Schifrin in a recording session with the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany, and released on the Aleph label.[34] This release also includes re-recordings of the 1968 soundtrack album arrangements for some tracks.

text: In 2009, the never-before-released original recording of the score heard in the movie, recorded by Schifrin on the Warner Bros. scoring stage with engineer Dan Wallin, was made available by Film Score Monthly. Some score passages and cues are virtually identical to the official soundtrack album, while many softer, moodier cues from the film were not chosen or had been rewritten for the soundtrack release. Also included are additional cues that didn't make it into the film. In addition, the two-CD set features the official soundtrack album, newly mixed from the 1" master tape.[33]

text: In the restaurant scene with McQueen and Bissett, the live band playing in the background is Meridian West, a jazz quartet that McQueen had seen performing at famous San Francisco restaurant, The Trident.[35]

text: Release[edit]

text: Bullitt garnered both critical acclaim and box office success.

text: Box office performance[edit]

text: Produced on a $5.5 million budget, the film grossed over $42.3 million in the US,[1] making it the 5th highest-grossing film of 1968.

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Bullitt was well received by critics and is considered by some to be one of the best films of 1968.[36][37][38] At the time, Renata Adler made the film a New York Times Critics' Pick, calling it a "terrific movie, just right for Steve McQueen –-fast, well acted, written the way people talk." According to Adler, "the ending should satisfy fans from Dragnet to Camus."[39]

text: In 2004, the New York Times placed the film on its list of The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.[32] In 2011, Time magazine listed it among "The 15 Greatest Movie Car Chases of All Time," describing it as "the one, the first, the granddaddy, the chase on the top of almost every list," and saying "Bullitt‘s car chase is a reminder that every great such scene is a triumph of editing as much as it is stunt work. Naturally, it won that year's Academy Award for Best Editing".[40] Among 21st century critics, it holds a 97% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, representing positive reviews from 33 of 34 critics, in a mix of reviews dated from when the film was released to the 2000s, its consensus reading: "Steve McQueen is cool as ice in this thrilling police procedural that also happens to contain the arguably greatest car chase ever."[41]

text: Awards and honors[edit]

text: The film was nominated for and won several critical awards.[42] Frank P. Keller won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Film Editing, and it was also nominated for Best Sound.[43] Five nominations at the BAFTA Film Awards for 1969 included Best Director for Peter Yates, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Vaughn, Best Cinematography for William A. Fraker, Best Film Editing for Frank P. Keller, and Best Sound Track. Robert Fish, Harry Kleiner, and Alan Trustman won the 1969 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture.[44] Keller won the American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film. The film also received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography (William A. Fraker) and the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Feature Film. It was successful at the 1970 Laurel Awards, winning Golden Laurel awards for Best Action Drama, Best Action Performance (Steve McQueen) and Best Female New Face (Jacqueline Bisset). In 2000, the Society of Camera Operators awarded Bullitt its "Historical Shot" award to David M. Walsh.

text: Legacy[edit]

text: The famous car chase was later spoofed in the Clint Eastwood film, The Dead Pool, in the Futurama episode, "Bendin' in the Wind," and in the Archer season six episode, "The Kanes." Bullitt producer Philip D'Antoni went on to film two more car chases, for The French Connection and The Seven-Ups, both set and shot in New York City.

text: The Ford Mustang name has been closely associated with the film. In 2001, the Ford Motor Company released the Bullitt edition Ford Mustang GT.[45] Another version of the Ford Mustang Bullitt, which is closer to resembling the original film Mustang, was released in 2008, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the film.[46][47] In 2009, Bud Brutsman of Overhaulin' built an authentic-looking replica of the Bullitt Mustang, fully loaded with modern components, for the five-episode 2009 TV series, Celebrity Rides: Hollywood's Speeding Bullitt, hosted by Chad McQueen, son of Steve McQueen.[48][49]

text: Steve McQueen's likeness as Frank Bullitt was used in two Ford commercials. The first was for the Europe-only 1997 Ford Puma, which featured a special effects montage of McQueen (who died in 1980) driving a new Puma around San Francisco before parking it in a studio apartment garage beside the film Mustang and the motorcycle from The Great Escape.[50] In a 2004 commercial for the 2005 Mustang, special effects are again used to create the illusion of McQueen driving the new Mustang, after a man receives a Field of Dreams-style epiphany and constructs a racetrack in the middle of a cornfield.[51]

text: The Mustang is featured in the 2003 video game, Ford Racing 2, in a Drafting challenge, on a course named Port Side. It appears in the Movie Stars category, along with other famous cars like the Ford Torino from Starsky & Hutch and the Ford Mustang Mach 1 from Diamonds Are Forever.[52][53] In the 2011 video game, Driver: San Francisco, the "Bite the Bullet" mission is based on the famous chase scene, with licensed versions of the Mustang and Charger from the film.[54]

text: In the opening scene of 2 Fast 2 Furious the main protagonist, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), is called "Bullitt" by his friends Suki (Devon Aoki) and Tej (Ludacris).

text: During the only season of the 2012 TV series Alcatraz, Det. Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) drives a green 1968 390 V8 Ford Mustang fastback like Bullitt's. In the series finale, she finds herself in a 2013 Ford Mustang GT, the modern equivalent of the 1968 fastback, giving chase to a black LX Dodge Charger driven by series antagonist Thomas "Tommy" Madsen (David Hoflin). The sequence pays homage to Bullitt's car chase, including Madsen buckling the seatbelt in his Charger before starting, and two passes by a green Volkswagen Beetle.

text: The Blue Bloods TV series 2015 episode "The Bullitt Mustang" centers around the reported theft of one of the Mustangs used in the film, valued at a half million dollars, a case which detectives Danny Reagan and Maria Baez pick up.

text: Several items of clothing worn by McQueen's Bullitt received a boost in popularity thanks to the film: desert boots, a trench coat, a blue turtleneck sweater and, most famously, a brown tweed jacket with elbow patches.[55]

text: In March 2017, after years of its whereabouts unknown, one of the Mustang stunt cars used in the film was found in a junkyard in Mexico. The founders employed an automobile verification expert, who confirmed the vehicle's VIN and door jam serial numbers. It also had noticeable modifications, and the iconic green paint job underneath subsequent repaintings in red and white, and considerable rust.[28]

text: Although the Mustang has become famous for the car chase, outside of the chase it only appears three other times throughout the movie. The first is when Frank pulls up to the hospital to check on the injured Ross. The second when Frank is driving home after having the deceased Ross transferred to the city morgue. The third is when Frank parks near the car wash to talk with the cabbie, Weissberg. After riding with Weissberg to retrace Ross' actions before checking into the hotel Bullitt is next seen in the Mustang, being tailed by the hitmen. The chase immediately follows.


document_title: Rut (mammalian reproduction)

question_text: when is mating season for white tailed deer

root

text: Rut (mammalian reproduction)

text: Cervidae[edit]

text: White-tailed deer[edit]

tag: p

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: The rut for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) usually lasts three weeks in the Northern Hemisphere and may occur most of the year in tropical zones. The rut is the time when white-tail deer, especially bucks, are more active and less cautious than usual. This makes them easier to hunt, as well as more susceptible to being hit by motor vehicles.[5] The buck has one thing on his mind at this time of the year: to find as many does as he can. He will chase after many does for weeks, barely eating. The rut can take its toll on the bucks: they are usually quite worn out by the end of the breeding season.

text: Outdoors writer Charles Alsheimer has done research demonstrating the white-tailed deer rut is also controlled by the lunar phase and that the rut peaks seven days after the second full moon during October and November (the rutting moon)[6], while elk begin rutting during the September equinox autumnal equinox on 21 September.

text: A white-tail doe may be in estrus for up to 72 hours, and may come into estrus up to seven times if she does not mate. Cow may come into estrus up to four or more times if they do not mate.

text: The rut can start as early as the end of September, and can last all the way through the winter months. Bucks usually begin to start this process when the velvet is falling off their antlers, and it can last all the way until they start to shed their antlers. The peak of the rut, however, is right in the middle. The average peak day for the white-tail rut in the U.S. is November 13.[7] Around this period of time, the bucks and does are very active, with the rut in full swing. For a hunter sitting in a tree stand at this time of the year, it is not uncommon to see many deer pass through his specific area, due to other deer chasing others.

text: There are many behaviors a buck will exhibit during the rut. During pre-rut, bucks will spar with each other. Sparring is low-intensity aggressive behavior, involving mostly pushing and shoving. Bucks of different sizes will do this to each other. After pre-rut is finished, a buck will rub his antlers on a tree (thus making a "rub"), and make scrapes on the ground with his hooves: both of these are ways a buck will mark his territory and proclaim his dominance for other bucks to see. These activities are usually done at night.[8]

text: The most prominent behavior of all during the heat of the rut is fighting, where bucks show their true dominance to others. In fighting, bucks usually battle against similar sized deer, and small bucks do not normally challenge mature large ones: more often than not, smaller bucks fear the more mature bucks and leave or avoid the dominant deer’s territory. The fights can go on and on, with the winner getting the group of does. Some fights go on until death, and if not, it is not unusual to see one of them get injured.

text: The energy expenditure of chasing and fighting during the breeding season can result in a buck losing an immense amount of weight, with some research documenting losses of as much as 20% of body weight. On average, a buck before breeding season can weigh up to 180 pounds (82 kg). After he has gone through the stages of rut, he can lose about 50 pounds (23 kg) of weight, which is quite large, especially for only a few months of time. In the post-rut, a buck will need to replenish his body and catch up on the weight and energy he has lost.

text: Sources[who?] have stated that after the rut, a buck will go to a bedding spot and will remain "motionless" for a large amount of time, even to the extent of about two days, as he is thoroughly exhausted. After he has rested, he will get up and start to feed extensively, trying to catch up on all the nutrients his body requires. Croplands have much high carbohydrate grain in them, and a buck can be found here often, eating and getting nutrients. When the climate is extremely cold, a buck will sometimes resort to swamps and bogs, because of the warmer temperatures these areas hold.

text: Elk[edit]

text: The elk rut takes place between the middle of August and the middle of October, depending on the climate in which they live. The elk rut occurs around the same time of year throughout the United States. For example the peak rut in Idaho occurs between September 20 and 25, while the peak rut in New Mexico occurs around September 14.[9] The rut tends to last somewhere between 20 and 45 days.[10] This varies on latitude, for in southern areas spring arrives earlier and fall arrives later giving elk a longer calving season, therefore the rut lasts longer.[9] During the rut elk frequently use areas around fresh water, and tend to bed in heavy timber five to six hours per day.[11]:579 A cow elk will remain in estrus for 12 to 15 hours, if they are not bred during this time frame they will normally have another estrus cycle 18 to 28 days later.[9]

text: Elk use several different vocalizations during the rut. Some are made only by a certain sex or age class, and each is used for a different reason. The first of which being the cohesion call which is made by both sexes of elk, and is used to locate one another.[12]:225 An alarm squeal is made by both sexes of elk when they are on alert, during the rut these are used frequently by young bulls (male elks) being run off by the herd bull.[12]:228 Satellite bulls frequently spar with one another during the rut, and in turn make sparring squeaks.[12]:228 A bugle is a vocalization made exclusively by bulls. A bugle can be directed toward other bulls or toward cows. A bull will direct his bugle toward his cows while gathering them or while chasing an estrus cow. A herd bull will direct his bugle toward another bull to express his dominance over the herd, while a satellite bull may use his bugle to challenge the herd bull.[12]:229 Yelping also known as "grunting" is usually only made by herd bulls when they are excited. They are made more often while interacting with cows than with other bulls. "Yelping commonly was accompanied by contractions of the penile region with simultaneous emission of short spurts of urine."[12]:230

text: Phases[edit]

text: The rut has six phases: the pre-rut, the first breeding phase, the first rest phase, the second breeding phase, the second rest phase, and the third breeding phase.[9]

text:
The pre-rut takes place from mid-August through the beginning of September. During the pre-rut bulls begin bugling and gathering their herds. Bulls will bugle to attract cows as well as to express dominance over other bulls. A "herd" bull is the dominant bull in a herd. Younger, smaller bulls are known as satellite bulls, as they tend to cling to the edges of a herd trying to pick up any cows willing to leave the herd. Larger satellite bulls will challenge the herd bull to try and take control of the herd. These challenges include a good deal of bugling as well as fighting.[9]
The first breeding phase of the rut takes place between the beginning and the middle of September. This is when the three year and older cows come into estrus. During this time herd bulls bugle to keep their cows close by, they also answer the bugles of satellite bulls to let them know they are still dominant. A herd bull will also bugle while approaching a cow in estrus so the cows become familiar with his bugles.[9]
The first rest phase of the rut occurs between the middle and the end of September. At this time the older cows are predominantly out of estrus and the younger cows have not yet come into estrus. During the rest period satellite bulls will try to join the herd while the herd bull is resting.
The second breeding phase of the rut takes place three to four weeks after the first breeding phase. This is due to younger cows coming into estrus, as well as older cows that were not breed on their first estrus cycle coming back into estrus. Herd bulls are less aggressive towards satellite bulls at this phase in the rut due to exhaustion.[9] The second phase of the rut may have the most bugling activity due to the combination of the testosterone levels of the younger bulls rising, and the herd bull still trying to maintain control of the herd.
The second rest phase of the rut occurs around the middle of October. By this time the original herd bull usually does not have control of the herd, due to a great decline in physical condition. Terry Bowyer states, "Elk were observed feeding in the following percentages of observations: master bulls 24%; bachelor bulls 53%; yearling males 62%; cows 64%; and calves 62%" (Bowyer uses the terms "master bulls" and "bachelor bulls" which have the same meaning as "herd bulls" and "satellite bulls").[11]:577 Herd bulls do not have time to feed during the rut due to constantly fighting other bulls as well as chasing and breeding cows.[9]
Occasionally a third breeding phase will occur. This will usually take place around the end of October or early November. This is a result of yearling cows coming into estrus for the first time or two-year-old cows coming into a second estrus cycle. Since most of the herd bulls have left the herd by this time of year, the breeding is usually done by the younger satellite bulls. After this phase the rut is over, most bulls will leave the cows and form bachelor herds to spend the winter with; however young bulls will usually remain with the cows throughout the winter.[9]

tag: ul

text: Other deer species[edit]

text: Fallow deer[edit]

text: The fallow deer (Dama dama) is an ungulate which employs an unusual strategy for mating during the rut. This strategy is the creation of a lek, a display area presented to the females where the males gather and allow the females to choose a mate based upon their traits alone while reducing predation risk, disturbance to copulation, parasite transmission and the cost of looking for a mate.[13][4] When females come to the lek they leave soon after mating but the males will tend to stay in the lek to court other females until the end of the rutting season.[14] However, male fallow deer which are unsuccessful in mating will leave the lek sooner than other males and they will adopt other strategies to compensate for their lack of mating success in the lek. Furthermore, the duration spent in the lek is positively correlated with the behavioral traits of male display frequency and aggression, male hierarchical position and secondary sex characteristics such as antler size.[15] Overall, lekking species such as the fallow deer have a short intense rutting season where the males face intrasexual competition, territory defense and management of females within their territory.[16]

text: Elephants[edit]

text: In elephants the breeding season is less pronounced than in other ungulates and it usually spikes when the rains season occurs or shortly thereafter.[17][1] The rut is observed in both African and Asian elephants and it is referred to as musth.[18] Its meaning is derived from the Urdu word mast meaning intoxication. The most prominent characteristics of an elephant in rut are heightened sexual and aggressive activity along with copious temporal gland secretion and continual urine discharge.[1][19] Also it has been observed that males will have a higher concentration of testosterone and an increased likelihood of associating with female groups during musth. Similarly to deer or mountain goats, elephants will tusk the ground throwing vegetation, logs and objects into the air and occasionally at other subordinates.[1]

text: Moose[edit]

text: Moose have a series of rutting events which are similar to those seen in other deer species, however they have several characteristic behaviors which give them a distinct rut. The first of these behaviors is a challenger gait where the bull moose will sway back and forth and circle the rival bull while dipping his antlers down.[20] Another typical behaviour seen in moose especially during the pre-rut stage is mock battling. This is a display meant to scare away other rival males where the bull moose will destroy trees and vegetation prior to engaging in a fight.[21] Also, a behaviour known as displacement feeding is observed in male moose and it refers to the hasty movements made by the moose while it is feeding as it keeps an intense gaze upon rival bull moose.[22] Furthermore, as seen in other deer species male moose will dig mud pits and soak them in urine and the females will fight over possession of these wallows.[23] In North American variations of moose the pre-rutting season typically begins during August and is marked by bull moose leaving the younger satellite bulls.[24] During this stage there is much mock fighting and the pre-rut ends in September when the bull moose emerge from the solidarity of heavily wooded areas. Then begins the searching stage of the rut where the male seeks the moose cow in estrus and the instances of displacement feeding and tension between rival males increases.[25] Once a potential mate has been found the male enters the display stage of the stage which lasts one to three days. During this time he will court the female by standing sidewise three to five yards from the female moose to show himself as mate. If successful he will get to mate with her for several days and then move on to a new partner. This pattern of behaviours will then repeat with successive mates until late October or early November. Following the mating season bull moose spend long hours resting and feeding before forming their usual winter groupings.[26]

text: Although the battle between males is the main contest, there is also a battle between females. Usually this occurs between an older cow moose and a younger female.[27] The mature cow will attempt to stop the younger one from coming near to the wallow in a vicious attack with her forelegs and if the younger female gets to lie in the wallow the older female will drive her out of it only to return to lie in it and take up as much space as possible.[28] During this event the bull moose will not interfere and he will just watch in plain sight.

text: Other mammals[edit]

text:
Sexual behavior of impalas
Spanish ibex § Mating
Muskox § Social behavior and reproduction
Argali § Reproduction
Camel § Biology


document_title: Mediterranean Sea

question_text: which empire did the whole coast of the mediterranean sea belong to

question_tokens: which empire did the whole coast of the mediterranean sea belong to

text: Mediterranean Sea

text: Names and etymology[edit]

text: The Ancient Greeks called the Mediterranean simply η θάλασσα 'the Sea' or sometimes η μεγάλη θάλασσα 'the Great Sea', η ημέτερα θάλασσα 'Our Sea', or η θάλασσα η καθ'εμάς 'the sea around us'. The Romans called it Mare Magnum 'Great Sea' or Mare Internum 'Internal Sea' and, starting with the Roman Empire, Mare Nostrum 'Our Sea'. The term Mare Mediterrāneum appears later: Solinus apparently used it in the 3rd century, but the earliest extant witness to it is in the 6th century, in Isidore of Seville.[5][6] It means 'in the middle of land, inland' in Latin, a compound of medius 'middle', terra 'land, earth' and -āneus 'having the nature of'. The Latin word is a calque of Greek μεσόγαιος 'inland', from μέσος 'in the middle' and γήϊος 'of the earth' (from γῆ 'land, earth'). The original meaning may have been 'the sea in the middle of the earth', rather than 'the sea enclosed by land'.[7][8]

text: The Carthaginians called it the "Syrian Sea". In ancient Syrian texts, Phoenician epics and in the Hebrew Bible, it was primarily known as the "Great Sea" (הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל, HaYam HaGadol, Numbers 34:6,7; Joshua 1:4, 9:1, 15:47; Ezekiel 47:10,15,20) or simply as "The Sea" (1 Kings 5:9; compare 1 Macc. 14:34, 15:11); however, it has also been called the "Hinder Sea" (הַיָּם הָאַחֲרוֹן) because of its location on the west coast of Greater Syria or the Holy Land (and therefore behind a person facing the east), which is sometimes translated as "Western Sea", (Deut. 11:24; Joel 2:20). Another name was the "Sea of the Philistines" (יָם פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Exod. 23:31), from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites. In Modern Hebrew, it is called HaYam HaTikhon (הַיָּם הַתִּיכוֹן) 'the Middle Sea'.[9]

text: In Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr [al-Abyaḍ] al-Mutawassiṭ (البحر [الأبيض] المتوسط) 'the [White] Middle Sea'. In Islamic and older Arabic literature, it was Baḥr al-Rūm(ī) (بحر الروم or بحر الرومي}) 'the Sea of the Romans' or 'the Roman Sea'. At first, that name referred to only the Eastern Mediterranean, but it was later extended to the whole Mediterranean. Other Arabic names were Baḥr al-šām(ī) (يبحر الشرومام) 'the Sea of Syria' and Baḥr al-Maghrib (بحرالمغرب) 'the Sea of the West'.[10][6]

text: In Turkish, it is the Akdeniz 'the White Sea'; in Ottoman, ﺁق دكيز, which sometimes means only the Aegean Sea.[11] The origin of the name is not clear, as it is not known in earlier Greek, Byzantine or Islamic sources. It may be to contrast with the Black Sea.[10][9][12] In Persian, the name was translated as Baḥr-i Safīd, which was also used in later Ottoman Turkish. It is probably the origin of the colloquial Greek Άσπρη Θάλασσα.[10] Johann Knobloch claims that in Classical Antiquity, cultures in the Levant used colours to refer to the cardinal points: black referred to the north (explaining the name Black Sea), yellow or blue to east, red to south (i.e., the Red Sea), and white to west. This would explain both the Turkish Akdeniz (White Sea) and the Arab nomenclature described above.[13]

text: History[edit]

text: Ancient civilizations[edit]

text: Several ancient civilizations were located around the Mediterranean shores and were greatly influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonization, and war, as well as food (from fishing and the gathering of other seafood) for numerous communities throughout the ages.[14]

text: Due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history.

text: Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilizations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states and the Phoenicians, both of which extensively colonized the coastlines of the Mediterranean. Later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea"). For the next 400 years, the Roman Empire completely controlled the Mediterranean Sea and virtually all its coastal regions from Gibraltar to the Levant.

text: Darius I of Persia, who conquered Ancient Egypt, built a canal linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Darius's canal was wide enough for two triremes to pass each other with oars extended, and required four days to traverse.[15]

text: Middle Ages and empires[edit]

text: The Western Roman Empire collapsed around AD 476. Temporarily the east was again dominant as Roman power lived on in the Byzantine Empire formed in the 4th century from the eastern half of the Roman Empire. Another power arose in the 7th century, and with it the religion of Islam, which soon swept across from the east; at its greatest extent, the Arab Empire controlled 75% of the Mediterranean region and left a lasting footprint on its eastern and southern shores.

text: The Arab invasions disrupted the trade relations between Western and Eastern Europe while cutting the trade route with Oriental lands. This however had the indirect effect of promoting the trade across the Caspian Sea. The export of grains from Egypt was re-routed towards the Eastern world. Oriental goods like silk and spices were carried from Egypt to ports like Venice and Constantinople by sailors and Jewish merchants. The Viking raids further disrupted the trade in western Europe and brought it to a halt. However, the Norsemen developed the trade from Norway to the White Sea, while also trading in luxury goods from Spain and the Mediterranean. The Byzantines in the mid-8th century retook control of the area around the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean. Venetian ships from the 9th century armed themselves to counter the harassment by Arabs while concentrating trade of oriental goods at Venice.[16]

text: The Fatimids maintained trade relations with the Italian city-states like Amalfi and Genoa  before the Crusades, according to the Cairo Geniza documents. A document dated 996 mentions Amalfian merchants living in Cairo. Another letter states that the Genoese had traded with Alexandria. The caliph al-Mustansir had allowed Amalfian merchants to reside in Jerusalem about 1060 in place of the Latin hospice.[17]

text: The Crusades led to flourishing of trade between Europe and the outremer region.[18] Genoa, Venica and Pisa created colonies in regions controlled by the Crusaders and came to control the trade with the Orient. These colonies also allowed them to trade with the Eastern world. Though the fall of the Crusader states and attempts at banning of trade relations with Muslim states by the Popes temporarily disrupted the trade with the Orient, it however continued.[19]

text: Europe started to revive, however, as more organised and centralised states began to form in the later Middle Ages after the Renaissance of the 12th century.

text: Ottoman power based in Anatolia continued to grow, and in 1453 extinguished the Byzantine Empire with the Conquest of Constantinople. Ottomans gained control of much of the sea in the 16th century and maintained naval bases in southern France (1543-1544), Algeria and Tunisia. Barbarossa, the famous Ottoman captain is a symbol of this domination with the victory of the Battle of Preveza (1538). The Battle of Djerba (1560) marked the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the Mediterranean. As the naval prowess of the European powers increased, they confronted Ottoman expansion in the region when the Battle of Lepanto (1571) checked the power of the Ottoman Navy. This was the last naval battle to be fought primarily between galleys.

text: The Barbary pirates of Northwest Africa preyed on Christian shipping and coastlines in the Western Mediterranean Sea.[20] According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves.[21]

text: The development of oceanic shipping began to affect the entire Mediterranean. Once, most trade between Western Europe and the East had passed through the region, but after the 1490s the development of a sea route to the Indian Ocean allowed the importation of Asian spices and other goods through the Atlantic ports of western Europe.[22][23][24]

text: 21st century and migrations[edit]

text: In 2013 the Maltese president described the Mediterranean sea as a "cemetery" due to the large number of migrants who drowned there after their boats capsized.[25] European Parliament president Martin Schulz said in 2014 that Europe's migration policy "turned the Mediterranean into a graveyard", referring to the number of drowned refugees in the region as a direct result of the policies.[26] An Azerbaijani official described the sea as "a burial ground ... where people die".[27]

text: Following the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck, the Italian government decided to strengthen the national system for the patrolling of the Mediterranean Sea by authorising "Operation Mare Nostrum", a military and humanitarian mission in order to rescue the migrants and arrest the traffickers of immigrants. In 2015, more than one million migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.[28]

text: Italy was particularly affected by the European migrant crisis. Since 2013, over 700,000 migrants have landed in Italy,[29] mainly sub-Saharan Africans.[30]

text: Geography[edit]

text: The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar (known in Homer's writings as the "Pillars of Hercules") in the west and to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, by the Dardanelles and the Bosporus respectively, in the east. The Sea of Marmara (Dardanelles) is often considered a part of the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the Black Sea is generally not. The 163 km (101 mi) long artificial Suez Canal in the southeast connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.[9]

text: Large islands in the Mediterranean include Cyprus, Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Lesbos, Chios, Kefalonia, Corfu, Limnos, Samos, Naxos and Andros in the Eastern Mediterranean; Sicily, Cres, Krk, Brač, Hvar, Pag, Korčula and Malta in the central Mediterranean; Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands: Ibiza, Majorca, and Menorca  in the Western Mediterranean.

text: The typical Mediterranean climate has hot, humid, and dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Crops of the region include olives, grapes, oranges, tangerines, and cork.

text: Extent[edit]

text: The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Mediterranean Sea as follows:[31]

text: Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar in the west to the entrances to the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal in the east, the Mediterranean Sea is bounded by the coasts of Europe, Africa and Asia, and is divided into two deep basins:

text:
Western Basin:
On the west: A line joining the extremities of Cape Trafalgar (Spain) and Cape Spartel (Africa).
On the northeast: The west coast of Italy. In the Strait of Messina a line joining the north extreme of Cape Paci (15°42'E) with Cape Peloro, the east extreme of the Island of Sicily. The north coast of Sicily.
On the east: A line joining Cape Lilibeo the western point of Sicily (37°47′N 12°22′E / 37.783°N 12.367°E / 37.783; 12.367), through the Adventure Bank to Cape Bon (Tunisia).
Eastern Basin:
On the west: The northeastern and eastern limits of the Western Basin.
On the northeast: A line joining Kum Kale (26°11'E) and Cape Helles, the western entrance to the Dardanelles.
On the southeast: The entrance to the Suez Canal.
On the east: The coasts of Syria and Israel.

text: Oceanography[edit]

text: Being nearly landlocked affects conditions in the Mediterranean Sea: for instance, tides are very limited as a result of the narrow connection with the Atlantic Ocean. The Mediterranean is characterised and immediately recognised by its deep blue colour.

text: Evaporation greatly exceeds precipitation and river runoff in the Mediterranean, a fact that is central to the water circulation within the basin.[32] Evaporation is especially high in its eastern half, causing the water level to decrease and salinity to increase eastward.[33] The salinity at 5 m depth is 3.8%.[34]

text: The pressure gradient pushes relatively cool, low-salinity water from the Atlantic across the basin; it warms and becomes saltier as it travels east, then sinks in the region of the Levant and circulates westward, to spill over the Strait of Gibraltar.[35] Thus, seawater flow is eastward in the Strait's surface waters, and westward below; once in the Atlantic, this chemically distinct Mediterranean Intermediate Water can persist thousands of kilometres away from its source.[36]

text: The temperature of the water in the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea is 13.2 °C (55.8 °F).[34]

text: Coastal countries[edit]

text: The following countries have a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea:

text:
Northern shore (from west to east): Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Turkey.
Eastern shore (from north to south): Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel.
Southern shore (from west to east): Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt.
Island nations: Malta, Cyprus.

text: Several other territories also border the Mediterranean Sea (from west to east): The British overseas territory of Gibraltar, the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla and nearby islands, the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus, and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

text: Coastal cities[edit]

text: Major cities (municipalities) with populations larger than 200,000 people bordering the Mediterranean Sea are:

text:
Country

Cities

Algeria

Algiers, Annaba, Oran

Egypt

Alexandria, Damietta, Port Said

France

Marseille, Nice

Greece

Athens, Piraeus, Patras, Thessaloniki

Israel

Ashdod, Haifa, Netanya, Rishon LeZion, Tel Aviv

Italy

Bari, Catania, Genoa, Messina, Naples, Palermo, Rome, Taranto, Trieste, Venice

Lebanon

Beirut, Tripoli

Libya

Benghazi, Khoms, Misrata, Tripoli, Zawiya, Zliten

Morocco

Tétouan, Tangier

Palestine

Gaza City, Khan Yunis

Spain

Alicante, Badalona, Barcelona, Cartagena, Málaga, Palma, Valencia.

Syria

Latakia

Tunisia

Sfax, Sousse, Tunis

Turkey

Antalya, Adana, İzmir, Mersin

text: Subdivisions[edit]

text: The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) divides the Mediterranean into a number of smaller waterbodies, each with their own designation (from west to east):[31]

text:
the Strait of Gibraltar;
the Alboran Sea, between Spain and Morocco;
the Balearic Sea, between mainland Spain and its Balearic Islands;
the Ligurian Sea between Corsica and Liguria (Italy);
the Tyrrhenian Sea enclosed by Sardinia, Italian peninsula and Sicily;
the Ionian Sea between Italy, Albania and Greece;
the Adriatic Sea between Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania;
the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey.

text: Other seas[edit]

text: Some other seas whose names have been in common use from the ancient times, or in the present:

text:
the Sea of Sardinia, between Sardinia and Balearic Islands, as a part of the Balearic Sea
the Sea of Sicily between Sicily and Tunisia,
the Libyan Sea between Libya and Crete,
In the Aegean Sea,
the Thracian Sea in its north,
the Myrtoan Sea between the Cyclades and the Peloponnese,
the Sea of Crete north of Crete,
the Icarian Sea between Kos and Chios
the Cilician Sea between Turkey and Cyprus
the Levantine Sea at the eastern end of the Mediterranean
the Libyan Sea the bay north of Libya

text: Many of these smaller seas feature in local myth and folklore and derive their names from these associations.

text: Other features[edit]

text: In addition to the seas, a number of gulfs and straits are recognised:

text:
the Saint George Bay in Beirut, Lebanon
the Ras Ibn Hani cape in Latakia, Syria
the Ras al-Bassit cape in northern Syria.
the Minet el-Beida ("White Harbour") bay near ancient Ugarit, Syria
the Strait of Gibraltar, connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco
the Bay of Gibraltar, at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula
the Gulf of Corinth, an enclosed sea between the Ionian Sea and the Corinth Canal
the Pagasetic Gulf, the gulf of Volos, south of the Thermaic Gulf, formed by the Mount Pelion peninsula
the Saronic Gulf, the gulf of Athens, between the Corinth Canal and the Mirtoan Sea
the Thermaic Gulf, the gulf of Thessaloniki, located in the northern Greek region of Macedonia
the Kvarner Gulf, Croatia
the Gulf of Lion, south of France
the Gulf of Valencia, east of Spain
the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and the toe of Italy
the Gulf of Genoa, northwestern Italy
the Gulf of Venice, northeastern Italy
the Gulf of Trieste, northeastern Italy
the Gulf of Taranto, southern Italy The Paklinski Islands off the coast of Croatia; the Adriatic Sea contains over 1200 islands and islets
the Gulf of Salerno, southwestern Italy
the Gulf of Gaeta, southwestern Italy
the Gulf of Squillace, southern Italy
the Strait of Otranto, between Italy and Albania
the Gulf of Haifa, northern Israel
the Gulf of Sidra, between Tripolitania (western Libya) and Cyrenaica (eastern Libya)
the Strait of Sicily, between Sicily and Tunisia
the Corsica Channel, between Corsica and Italy
the Strait of Bonifacio, between Sardinia and Corsica
the Gulf of İskenderun, between İskenderun and Adana (Turkey)
the Gulf of Antalya, between west and east shores of Antalya (Turkey)
the Bay of Kotor, in south-western Montenegro and south-eastern Croatia
the Malta Channel, between Sicily and Malta
the Gozo Channel, between Malta Island and Gozo

text: 10 largest islands by area[edit]

text:
Country

Island

Area in km2

Population

Italy

Sicily

25,460

5,048,995

Italy

Sardinia

23,821

1,672,804

Cyprus

Cyprus

9,251

1,088,503

France

Corsica

8,680

299,209

Greece

Crete

8,336

623,666

Greece

Euboea

3,655

218.000

Spain

Majorca

3,640

869,067

Greece

Lesbos

1,632

90,643

Greece

Rhodes

1,400

117,007

Greece

Chios

842

51,936

text: Climate[edit]

text: Sea temperature[edit]

text:
Mean sea temperature (°C)

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Year

Marseille[38]

13

13

13

14

16

18

21

22

21

18

16

14

16.6

Gibraltar[39]

16

15

16

16

17

20

22

22

22

20

18

17

18.4

Málaga[40]

16

15

15

16

17

20

22

23

22

20

18

16

18.3

Athens[41]

16

15

15

16

18

21

24

24

24

21

19

18

19.3

Barcelona[42]

13

13

13

14

17

20

23

25

23

20

17

15

17.8

Heraklion[43]

16

15

15

16

19

22

24

25

24

22

20

18

19.7

Venice[44]

11

10

11

13

18

22

25

26

23

20

16

14

17.4

Valencia[45]

14

13

14

15

17

21

24

26

24

21

18

15

18.5

Malta[46]

16

16

15

16

18

21

24

26

25

23

21

18

19.9

Alexandria[47]

18

17

17

18

20

23

25

26

26

25

22

20

21.4

Naples[48]

15

14

14

15

18

22

25

27

25

22

19

16

19.3

Larnaca[49]

18

17

17

18

20

24

26

27

27

25

22

19

21.7

Limassol[50]

18

17

17

18

20

24

26

27

27

25

22

19

21.7

Antalya

17

17

17

18

21

24

27

28

27

25

22

19

21.8

Tel Aviv[51]

18

17

17

18

21

24

26

28

27

26

23

20

22.1

text: Geology[edit]

text: The geologic history of the Mediterranean Sea is complex. Underlain by oceanic crust, the sea basin was once thought to be a tectonic remnant of the ancient Tethys Ocean; it is now known to be a structurally younger basin, called the Neotethys, which was first formed by the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. Because it is a near-landlocked body of water in a normally dry climate, the Mediterranean is subject to intensive evaporation and the precipitation of evaporites. The Messinian salinity crisis started about six million years ago (mya) when the Mediterranean became landlocked, and then essentially dried up. There are salt deposits accumulated on the bottom of the basin of more than a million cubic kilometres—in some places more than three kilometres thick.[52][53]

text: Scientists estimate that the sea was last filled about 5.3 million years ago (mya)  in less than two years by the Zanclean flood.  Water poured in from the Atlantic Ocean through a newly breached gateway now called the   Strait of Gibraltar at an estimated rate of about three orders of magnitude (one thousand times) larger than the current flow of the Amazon River.[54]

text: The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and the deepest recorded point is 5,267 m (17,280 ft) in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea. The coastline extends for 46,000 km (29,000 mi). A shallow submarine ridge (the Strait of Sicily) between the island of Sicily and the coast of Tunisia divides the sea in two main subregions: the Western Mediterranean, with an area of about 850 thousand km2 (330 thousand mi2); and the Eastern Mediterranean, of about 1.65 million km2 (640 thousand mi2). A characteristic of the coastal Mediterranean are submarine karst springs or vruljas, which discharge pressurised groundwater into the coastal seawater from below the surface; the discharge water is usually fresh,  and sometimes may be thermal.[55][56]

text: Tectonics and paleoenvironmental analysis[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
The Mediterranean basin and sea system was established by the ancient African-Arabian continent colliding with the Eurasian continent. As Africa-Arabia drifted northward, it closed over the ancient Tethys Ocean which had earlier separated the two supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwana.
At about that time in the middle Jurassic period a much smaller sea basin, dubbed the Neotethys, was formed shortly before the Tethys Ocean closed at its western (Arabian) end. The broad line of collisions pushed up a very long system of mountains from the Pyrenees in Spain to the Zagros Mountains in Iran in an episode of mountain-building tectonics known as the Alpine orogeny. The Neotethys grew larger during the episodes of collisions (and associated foldings and subductions) that occurred during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs (34 to 5.33 mya); see animation: Africa-Arabia colliding with Eurasia. Accordingly, the Mediterranean basin consists of several stretched tectonic plates in subduction which are the foundation of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. Various zones of subduction harbour and form the deepest and most majestic oceanic ridges, east of the Ionian Sea and south of the Aegean. The Central Indian Ridge runs East of the Mediterranean Sea South-East across the in-between of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula into the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, while man-made geopolitical turmoil and chaos have governed the coastlines of many various Mediterranean nations throughout the courses of ancient, modern, present and foreseeable history, the Plate tectonic status of nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea will find sharing the same geological concerns and fate.

text: Messinian salinity crisis[edit]

text: During Mesozoic and Cenozoic times, as the northwest corner of Africa converged on Iberia, it lifted the Betic-Rif mountain belts across southern Iberia and northwest Africa. There the development of the intramontane Betic and Rif basins led to creating two roughly-parallel marine gateways between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Dubbed the Betic and Rifian corridors, they progressively closed during middle and late Miocene times; perhaps several times.[57] During late Miocene times the closure of the Betic Corridor triggered the so-called "Messinian salinity crisis" (MSC), when the Mediterranean almost entirely dried out. The time of beginning of the MSC was recently estimated astronomically at 5.96 mya, and it persisted for some 630,000 years until about 5.3 mya;[58] see Animation: Messinian salinity crisis, at right.

text:
After the initial drawdown and re-flooding there followed more episodes—the total number is debated—of sea drawdowns and re-floodings for the duration of the MSC. It ended when the Atlantic Ocean last re-flooded the basin—creating the Strait of Gibraltar and causing the Zanclean flood—at the end of the Miocene (5.33 mya). Some research has suggested that a desiccation-flooding-desiccation cycle may have repeated several times, which could explain several events of large amounts of salt deposition.[59][60] Recent studies, however, show that repeated desiccation and re-flooding is unlikely from a geodynamic point of view.
[61][62]

text: Desiccation and exchanges of flora and fauna[edit]

text: The present-day Atlantic gateway, i.e. the Strait of Gibraltar, originated in the early Pliocene via the Zanclean Flood. As mentioned, two other gateways preceded Gibraltar:  the Betic Corridor across southern Spain and the Rifian Corridor across northern Morocco. The former gateway closed about six (6) mya, causing the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC); the latter or possibly both gateways closed during the earlier Tortonian times, causing a "Tortonian salinity crisis" (from 11.6 to 7.2 mya), which occurred well before the MSC and lasted much longer. Both "crises" resulted in broad connections of the mainlands of Africa and Europe, which thereby normalised migrations of flora and fauna—especially large mammals including primates—between the two continents. The Vallesian crisis indicates a typical extinction and replacement of mammal species in Europe during Tortonian times following climatic upheaval and overland migrations of new species;[63] see Animation: Messinian salinity crisis (and mammal migrations), at right.

text: The near-completely enclosed configuration of the Mediterranean basin has enabled the oceanic gateways to dominate seawater circulation and the environmental evolution of the sea and basin. Circulation patterns are also affected by several other factors—including climate, bathymetry, and water chemistry and temperature—which are interactive and can induce precipitation of evaporites. Deposits of evaporites accumulated earlier in the nearby Carpathian foredeep during the Middle Miocene, and the adjacent Red Sea Basin (during the Late Miocene), and in the whole Mediterranean basin (during the MSC and the Messinian age). Diatomites are regularly found underneath the evaporite deposits, suggesting a connection between their geneses.

text: Today, evaporation of surface seawater (output) is more than the supply (input) of fresh water by precipitation and coastal drainage systems, causing the salinity of the Mediterranean to be much higher than that of the Atlantic—so much so that the saltier Mediterranean waters sink below the waters incoming from the Atlantic, causing a two-layer flow across the Gibraltar strait: that is, an outflow submarine current of warm saline Mediterranean water, counterbalanced by an inflow surface current  of less saline cold oceanic water from the Atlantic. Herman Sörgel's Atlantropa project proposal in the 1920s proposed a hydroelectric dam to be built across the Strait of Gibraltar, using the inflow current to provide a large amount of hydroelectric energy. The underlying energy grid was as well intended to support a political union between Europe and, at least, the Marghreb part of Africa (compare Eurafrika for the later impact and Desertec for a later project with some parallels in the planned grid).[64]

text: Shift to a "Mediterranean climate"[edit]

text: The end of the Miocene also marked a change in the climate of the Mediterranean basin. Fossil evidence from that period reveals that the larger basin had a humid subtropical climate with rainfall in the summer supporting laurel forests. The shift to a "Mediterranean climate" occurred largely within the last three million years (the late Pliocene epoch) as summer rainfall decreased. The subtropical laurel forests retreated; and even as they persisted on the islands of Macaronesia off the Atlantic coast of Iberia and North Africa, the present Mediterranean vegetation evolved, dominated by coniferous trees and sclerophyllous trees and shrubs with small, hard, waxy leaves that prevent moisture loss in the dry summers. Much of these forests and shrublands have been altered beyond recognition by thousands of years of human habitation. There are now very few relatively intact natural areas in what was once a heavily wooded region.

text: Paleoclimate[edit]

text: Because of its latitudinal position and its land-locked configuration, the Mediterranean is especially sensitive to astronomically induced climatic variations, which are well documented in its sedimentary record. Since the Mediterranean is involved in the deposition of eolian dust from the Sahara during dry periods, whereas riverine detrital input prevails during wet ones, the Mediterranean marine sapropel-bearing sequences provide high-resolution climatic information. These data have been employed in reconstructing astronomically calibrated time scales for the last 9 Ma of the Earth's history, helping to constrain the time of past geomagnetic reversals.[65] Furthermore, the exceptional accuracy of these paleoclimatic records has improved our knowledge of the Earth's orbital variations in the past.

text: Ecology and biota[edit]

text: As a result of the drying of the sea during the Messinian salinity crisis,[66] the marine biota of the Mediterranean are derived primarily from the Atlantic Ocean. The North Atlantic is considerably colder and more nutrient-rich than the Mediterranean, and the marine life of the Mediterranean has had to adapt to its differing conditions in the five million years since the basin was reflooded.

text: The Alboran Sea is a transition zone between the two seas, containing a mix of Mediterranean and Atlantic species. The Alboran Sea has the largest population of bottlenose dolphins in the Western Mediterranean, is home to the last population of harbour porpoises in the Mediterranean, and is the most important feeding grounds for loggerhead sea turtles in Europe. The Alboran sea also hosts important commercial fisheries, including sardines and swordfish. The Mediterranean monk seals live in the Aegean Sea in Greece. In 2003, the World Wildlife Fund raised concerns about the widespread drift net fishing endangering populations of dolphins, turtles, and other marine animals such as the Galathea strigosa.

text: Environmental history[edit]

text: This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on Talk:Mediterranean Sea/Archive 1. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (February 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: For 4,000 years, human activity has transformed most parts of Mediterranean Europe, and the "humanisation of the landscape" overlapped with the appearance of the present Mediterranean climate.[67] The image of a simplistic, environmental determinist notion of a Mediterranean Paradise on Earth in antiquity, which was destroyed by later civilisations dates back to at least the 18th century and was for centuries fashionable in archaeological and historical circles. Based on a broad variety of methods, e.g. historical documents, analysis of trade relations, floodplain sediments, pollen, tree-ring and further archaeometric analyses and population studies, Alfred Thomas Grove and Oliver Rackham's work on "The Nature of Mediterranean Europe" challenges this common wisdom of a Mediterranean Europe as a "Lost Eden", a formerly fertile and forested region, that had been progressively degraded and desertified by human mismanagement.[67] The belief stems more from the failure of the recent landscape to measure up to the imaginary past of the classics as idealised by artists, poets and scientists of the early modern Enlightenment.[67]

text: The historical evolution of climate, vegetation and landscape in southern Europe from prehistoric times to the present is much more complex and underwent various changes. For example, some of the deforestation had already taken place before the Roman age. While in the Roman age large enterprises as the Latifundiums took effective care of forests and agriculture, the largest depopulation effects came with the end of the empire. Some[who?] assume that the major deforestation took place in modern times — the later usage patterns were also quite different e.g. in southern and northern Italy. Also, the climate has usually been unstable and showing various ancient and modern "Little Ice Ages",[68] and plant cover accommodated to various extremes and became resilient with regard to various patterns of human activity.[67]

text: Humanisation was therefore not the cause of climate change but followed it.[67] The wide ecological diversity typical of Mediterranean Europe is predominantly based on human behavior, as it is and has been closely related human usage patterns.[67] The diversity range was enhanced by the widespread exchange and interaction of the longstanding and highly diverse local agriculture, intense transport and trade relations, and the interaction with settlements, pasture and other land use. The greatest human-induced changes, however, came after World War II, respectively in line with the '1950s-syndrome'[69] as rural populations throughout the region abandoned traditional subsistence economies. Grove and Rackham suggest that the locals left the traditional agricultural patterns towards taking a role as scenery-setting agents for the then much more important (tourism) travellers. This resulted in more monotonous, large-scale formations.[67] Among further current important threats to Mediterranean landscapes are overdevelopment of coastal areas, abandonment of mountains and, as mentioned, the loss of variety via the reduction of traditional agricultural occupations.[67]

text: Natural hazards[edit]

text: The region has a variety of geological hazards which have closely interacted with human activity and land use patterns. Among others, in the eastern Mediterranean, the Thera eruption, dated to the 17th or 16th century BC, caused a large tsunami that some experts hypothesise devastated the Minoan civilisation on the nearby island of Crete, further leading some to believe that this may have been the catastrophe that inspired the Atlantis legend.[70] Mount Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the European mainland, while others as Mount Etna and Stromboli are to be found on neighbouring islands. The region around Vesuvius including the Phlegraean Fields Caldera west of Naples are quite active[71] and constitute the most densely populated volcanic region in the world where an eruptive event may occur within decades.[72]

text:
Vesuvius itself is regarded as quite dangerous due to a tendency towards explosive (Plinian) eruptions.[73]
It is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

text: The large experience of member states and regional authorities has led to exchange on the international level with cooperation of NGOs, states, regional and municipality authorities and private persons.[74] The Greek–Turkish earthquake diplomacy is a quite positive example of natural hazards leading to improved relations of traditional rivals in the region after earthquakes in İzmir and Athens 1999. The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) was set up to respond to major natural disasters and express European solidarity to disaster-stricken regions within all of Europe.[75] The largest amount of fund requests in the EU is being directed to forest fires, followed by floodings and earthquakes. Forest fires are, whether man made or natural, an often recurring and dangerous hazard in the Mediterranean region.[74] Also, tsunamis are an often underestimated hazard in the region. For example, the 1908 Messina earthquake and tsunami took more than 123,000 lives in Sicily and Calabria and is among the most deadly natural disasters in modern Europe.

text: Biodiversity[edit]

text: Unlike the vast multidirectional Ocean currents in open Oceans within their respective Oceanic zones; biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea is that of a stable one due to the subtle but strong locked nature of currents which affects favorably, even the smallest macroscopic type of Volcanic Life Form. The stable Marine ecosystem of the Mediterranean Sea and sea temperature provides a nourishing environment for life in the deep sea to flourish while assuring a balanced Aquatic ecosystem excluded from any external deep oceanic factors.

text: Invasive species[edit]

text: The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage between the Mediterranean and Red Sea. The Red Sea is higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal serves as a tidal strait that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The Bitter Lakes, which are hyper-saline natural lakes that form part of the canal, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for many decades, but as the salinity of the lakes gradually equalised with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red Sea have begun to colonise the Eastern Mediterranean. The Red Sea is generally saltier and more nutrient-poor than the Atlantic, so the Red Sea species have advantages over Atlantic species in the salty and nutrient-poor Eastern Mediterranean. Accordingly, Red Sea species invade the Mediterranean biota, and not vice versa; this phenomenon is known as the Lessepsian migration (after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer) or Erythrean invasion. The construction of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in the 1960s reduced the inflow of freshwater and nutrient-rich silt from the Nile into the Eastern Mediterranean, making conditions there even more like the Red Sea and worsening the impact of the invasive species.

text: Invasive species have become a major component of the Mediterranean ecosystem and have serious impacts on the Mediterranean ecology, endangering many local and endemic Mediterranean species. A first look at some groups of exotic species show that more than 70% of the non-indigenous decapods and about 63% of the exotic fishes occurring in the Mediterranean are of Indo Pacific origin,[76] introduced into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. This makes the Canal as the first pathway of arrival of "alien" species into the Mediterranean. The impacts of some lessepsian species have proven to be considerable mainly in the Levantine basin of the Mediterranean, where they are replacing native species and becoming a "familiar sight".

text: According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature definition, as well as Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Ramsar Convention terminologies, they are alien species, as they are non-native (non-indigenous) to the Mediterranean Sea, and they are outside their normal area of distribution which is the Indo-Pacific region. When these species succeed in establishing populations in the Mediterranean Sea, compete with and begin to replace native species they are "Alien Invasive Species", as they are an agent of change and a threat to the native biodiversity. In the context of CBD, "introduction" refers to the movement by human agency, indirect or direct, of an alien species outside of its natural range (past or present). The Suez Canal, being an artificial (man made) canal, is a human agency. Lessepsian migrants are therefore "introduced" species (indirect, and unintentional). Whatever wording is chosen, they represent a threat to the native Mediterranean biodiversity, because they are non-indigenous to this sea. In recent years, the Egyptian government's announcement of its intentions to deepen and widen the canal have raised concerns from marine biologists, fearing that such an act will only worsen the invasion of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean, facilitating the crossing of the canal for yet additional species.[77]

text: Arrival of new tropical Atlantic species[edit]

text: In recent decades, the arrival of exotic species from the tropical Atlantic has become a noticeable feature. Whether this reflects an expansion of the natural area of these species that now enter the Mediterranean through the Gibraltar strait, because of a warming trend of the water caused by global warming; or an extension of the maritime traffic; or is simply the result of a more intense scientific investigation, is still an open question. While not as intense as the "lessepsian" movement, the process may be scientific interest and may therefore warrant increased levels of monitoring.[citation needed]

text: Sea-level rise[edit]

text: By 2100 the overall level of the Mediterranean could rise between 3 to 61 cm (1.2 to 24.0 in) as a result of the effects of climate change.[78] This could have adverse effects on populations across the Mediterranean:

text:
Rising sea levels will submerge parts of Malta. Rising sea levels will also mean rising salt water levels in Malta's groundwater supply and reduce the availability of drinking water.[79]
A 30 cm (12 in) rise in sea level would flood 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) of the Nile Delta, displacing over 500,000 Egyptians.[80]

text: Coastal ecosystems also appear to be threatened by sea level rise, especially enclosed seas such as the Baltic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. These seas have only small and primarily east-west movement corridors, which may restrict northward displacement of organisms in these areas.[81] Sea level rise for the next century (2100) could be between 30 cm (12 in) and 100 cm (39 in) and temperature shifts of a mere 0.05–0.1 °C in the deep sea are sufficient to induce significant changes in species richness and functional diversity.[82]

text: Pollution[edit]

text:
Pollution in this region has been extremely high in recent years.[when?] The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that 650,000,000 t (720,000,000 short tons) of sewage, 129,000 t (142,000 short tons) of mineral oil, 60,000 t (66,000 short tons) of mercury, 3,800 t (4,200 short tons) of lead and 36,000 t (40,000 short tons) of phosphates are dumped into the Mediterranean each year.[83] The Barcelona Convention aims to 'reduce pollution in the Mediterranean Sea and protect and improve the marine environment in the area, thereby contributing to its sustainable development.'[84]
Many marine species have been almost wiped out because of the sea's pollution. One of them is the Mediterranean monk seal which is considered to be among the world's most endangered marine mammals.[85]

text: The Mediterranean is also plagued by marine debris. A 1994 study of the seabed using trawl nets around the coasts of Spain, France and Italy reported a particularly high mean concentration of debris; an average of 1,935 items per km2. Plastic debris accounted for 76%, of which 94% was plastic bags.[86]

text: Shipping[edit]

text: Some of the world's busiest shipping routes are in the Mediterranean Sea. It is estimated that approximately 220,000 merchant vessels of more than 100 tonnes cross the Mediterranean Sea each year—about one third of the world's total merchant shipping. These ships often carry hazardous cargo, which if lost would result in severe damage to the marine environment.

text: The discharge of chemical tank washings and oily wastes also represent a significant source of marine pollution. The Mediterranean Sea constitutes 0.7% of the global water surface and yet receives 17% of global marine oil pollution. It is estimated that every year between 100,000 t (98,000 long tons) and 150,000 t (150,000 long tons) of crude oil are deliberately released into the sea from shipping activities.

text: Approximately 370,000,000 t (360,000,000 long tons) of oil are transported annually in the Mediterranean Sea (more than 20% of the world total), with around 250–300 oil tankers crossing the sea every day. Accidental oil spills happen frequently with an average of 10 spills per year. A major oil spill could occur at any time in any part of the Mediterranean.[82]

text: Tourism[edit]

text: The Mediterranean Sea is arguably among the most culturally diverse block basin sea regions in the world, with a unique combination of pleasant climate, beautiful coastline, rich history and various cultures. The Mediterranean region is the most popular tourist destination in the world—attracting approximately one third of the world's international tourists.[citation needed]

text: Tourism is one of the most important sources of income for many Mediterranean countries regardless of the man-made geopolitical conflicts that harbour coastal nations. In that regard, authorities around the Mediterranean have made it a point to extinguish rising man-made chaotic zones that would affect the economies, societies in neighboring coastal countries, let alone shipping routes. Naval and rescue components in the Mediterranean Sea are considered one of the very best due to the quick intercooperation of various Naval Fleets within proximity of each other. Unlike the vast open Oceans, the closed nature of the Mediterranean Sea provides a much more adaptable naval initiative among the coastal countries to provide effective naval and rescue missions, considered the safest and regardless of any man-made or natural disaster.

text: Tourism also supports small communities in coastal areas and islands by providing alternative sources of income far from urban centers. However, tourism has also played major role in the degradation of the coastal and marine environment. Rapid development has been encouraged by Mediterranean governments to support the large numbers of tourists visiting the region each year. But this has caused serious disturbance to marine habitats such as erosion and pollution in many places along the Mediterranean coasts.

text: Tourism often concentrates in areas of high natural wealth, causing a serious threat to the habitats of endangered Mediterranean species such as sea turtles and monk seals.  Reductions in natural wealth may reduce incentives for tourists to visit.[82]

text: Overfishing[edit]

text: Fish stock levels in the Mediterranean Sea are alarmingly low. The European Environment Agency says that more than 65% of all fish stocks in the region are outside safe biological limits and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, that some of the most important fisheries—such as albacore and bluefin tuna, hake, marlin, swordfish, red mullet and sea bream—are threatened.[date missing]

text: There are clear indications that catch size and quality have declined, often dramatically, and in many areas larger and longer-lived species have disappeared entirely from commercial catches.

text: Large open water fish like tuna have been a shared fisheries resource for thousands of years but the stocks are now dangerously low. In 1999, Greenpeace published a report revealing that the amount of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean had decreased by over 80% in the previous 20 years and government scientists warn that without immediate action the stock will collapse.

text: Gallery[edit]

text:
Beach of Hammamet, Tunisia

The beach of la Courtade in the Îles d'Hyères, France

Sardinia's south coast, Italy

Pretty Bay, Malta

Panoramic view of Piran, Slovenia

Panoramic view of Cavtat, Croatia

View of Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina

A view of Sveti Stefan, Montenegro

Ksamil Islands, Albania

Navagio, Greece

Marmaris, Turquoise Coast, Turkey

Paphos, Cyprus

Burj Islam Beach, Latakia, Syria

A view of Raouché off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon

A view of Haifa, Israel

Coast of Alexandria, view From Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt

Old city of Ibiza Town, Spain

Les Aiguades near Béjaïa, Algeria

El Jebha, a port town in Morocco

Europa Point, Gibraltar

Panoramic view of La Condamine, Monaco

Sunset at the Deir al-Balah beach, Gaza Strip