Vegetation in the Negev is sparse, but certain trees and plants thrive there, among them Acacia, Pistacia, Retama, Urginea maritima and Thymelaea.[4] A small population of Arabian leopards, an endangered animal in the Arabian peninsula, survives in the southern Negev.[5] The Negev Tortoise (Testudo werneri) is a critically endangered species that currently lives only in the sands of the western an