Wildlife of Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is covered in steppes, deserts and mountains. It has the second lowest population density (after Kazakhstan) in former Soviet Central Asia.
Plant life is sparse in the vast, arid desert, where only drought-resistant grasses and desert scrub grow. The mountain valleys in the south support wild grapevines, fig plants, and ancient forests of wild walnut trees. The mountain slopes are covered with forests of juniper and pistachio trees. Dense thickets called tugai grow along riverbanks. The wildlife in the mountains of Turkmenistan includes the caracal (or Persian lynx), goats, cheetahs, and snow leopards. In the desert, gazelles, foxes, and wildcats thrive. In the tugai live jackals, wild boar, and the rare pink deer. Reptiles are abundant and include the Central Asian cobra, the desert monitor (a large lizard), several species of gecko (a small lizard), and the tortoise. Migratory birds, such as ducks, geese, and swans, inhabit the Caspian shore during winter.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, environmental regulation is largely unchanged in Turkmenistan. The new government created the Ministry of Natural Resources Use and Environmental Protection in July 1992, with departments responsible for environmental protection, protection of flora and fauna, forestry, hydrometeorology, and administrative planning. Like other CIS republics, Turkmenistan has established an Environmental Fund based on revenues collected from environmental fines, but the fines generally are too low to accumulate significant revenue. Thanks to the former Soviet system of game preserves and the efforts of the Society for Nature Conservation and the Academy of Sciences, flora and fauna receive some protection in the republic; however, “hard-currency hunts” by wealthy Western and Arab businesspeople already are depleting animals on preserves.
See also
Wildlife and nature guides to the world
- Wildlife of Belarus
- Wildlife of Bhutan
- Wildlife of Botswana
- Wildlife of Cambodia
- Wildlife of Cameroon
- Wildlife of China
- Wildlife of Congo
- Wildlife of Ethiopia
- Wildlife of Finland
- Wildlife of Greece
- Wildlife of Hungary
- Wildlife of India
- Wildlife of Malaysia
- Wildlife of Mexico
- Wildlife of Nepal
- Wildlife of Niger
- Wildlife of Peru
- Wildlife of Poland
- Wildlife of Slovakia
- Wildlife of South Korea
- Wildlife of the US
- Wildlife of Turkey
- Wildlife of Turkmenistan
- Wildlife of Uganda