Wildlife of Mongolia

WILD LIFE ISSUES IN MONGOLIA

Mongolia boasts a wide variety of wild life: 139 species of mammals, 449 species of birds (330 migratory and 119 inhabits in Mongolia year round), 22 species of reptiles, 6 species of amphibians, and 76 fish species. The Mongolian Altai-Sayan has a fauna that includes a number of rare and endangered species such as Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia), Wild sheep (Ovis ammon) or Argal, Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica), Mongolian Saiga (Saiga tatarica mongolica), Musk Deer (Moschus moschiferus) Pallas’ cat (Felis manul)  or Manul, Black Tailed Gazelle (Gazelle subgutturosa), Wild Boar (Sus scrofa nigipes), Stone Martin (Martes foina), Marbeled Polecat (Vormela peregusna), Elk (Cervus elaphus) or Red Deer, Snowcock (Tetraogallus altaicus) or Altain ular, Cenereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus), Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus) , Spoonbills (Platalea Leucorodia), Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus), Great white egrets (Egretta alba), Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus), Greet blackheaded gulls (Larus ichthyatus), Black Storks (Ciconia nigra) and Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides). A

Mongolia’s Eastern Steppe

Encompassing more than 95,000 square miles, Mongolia’s Eastern Steppe is the largest expanse of unspoiled, temperate grassland in the world. Each year, about a million Mongolian gazelles migrate across this vast landscape of short grass and sparse trees, in herds of thousands of animals at a time. Many other mammals also live on the steppe, including the gray wolf, Siberian marmot, steppe polecat, Pallas’s cat, and Daurian hedgehog. The endangered saker falcon soars above the steppe, and six of the world’s 13 species of crane are found here, including the rare Siberian crane.

Fast Facts

  • Mongolia has the lowest human population density of any country in the world, and the Eastern Steppe has one of the lowest densities in Mongolia.
  • Many people on the steppe continue the ancient tradition of nomadic livestock herding.
  • Nomrog Strictly Protected Area is located at the eastern tip of Mongolia’s steppe, where a moister climate provides habitat for classic steppe species, as well as wild boar, raccoon dog, and Ussurian moose

Mongolia Wikiepdia

The name “Gobi” is a Mongol term for a desert steppe, which usually refers to a category of arid rangeland with insufficient vegetation to support marmots but with enough to support camels. Mongols distinguish Gobi from desert proper, although the distinction is not always apparent to outsiders unfamiliar with the Mongolian landscape. Gobi rangelands are fragile and are easily destroyed by overgrazing, which results in expansion of the true desert, a stony waste where not even Bactrian camels can survive. See also Fauna of Mongolia

Mongol Environmental Conservation

Mongolia is still one of the most pristine countries in all of Asia, if not the world. Sadly, it is now facing an environmental crisis that threatens most of its countryside. An already dire situation is made all the more serious because Mongolia is a landlocked, arid country, with a severe continental climate and a very fragile environment. Some of the more drastic problems now stretch well beyond Mongolia’s borders, affecting nearby ecosystems.

Wildlife Extra News – Mongolian wildlife being decimated

The first comprehensive Red Lists for Mongolian mammals and fish has been published by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which shows catastrophic declines for most of the large mammals and an uncertain future for many fish.

Species that are currently experiencing major declines include the red deer, snow leopard, Asiatic wild ass, Siberian musk deer and argali sheep. The population declines have been extremely rapid, as is shown by the 92% decline of red deer over 18 years.

Earthwatch: Wildlife of the Mongolian Steppe

Explore the lives of unique grassland animals, from lesser kestrels to Siberian ibex, to help conserve their wilderness home.

Your team will enjoy an extraordinary perspective of the desert-steppe environment in central Asia, as well as visits with local herders for a unique cultural experience. You will work with a well-trained research staff to observe the ecology and movements of a diversity of grassland animals. In addition to argali sheep, you will help explore the ecology of Siberian ibex, mountain goats with scimitar-shaped horns, and cinereous vultures, the largest raptors in Eurasia. You will also study the lives of globally threatened lesser kestrels, two species of hedgehogs, and prey species, from lizards to leaping jerboas. You may also help to locate, map and photograph archaeological sites in the Ikh Nart Nature Reserve.

Mongolian gazelle

Mongolian gazelles, medium-sized antelope with a heart-shaped patch of white fur on their rump, are among the last great herds of migratory wildlife. Over a million of these antelope migrate across the vast expanse of Mongolia’s Eastern Steppe—the largest intact grassland in the world—as they search for forage throughout the year.

Mongolian Wild Ass

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