Wildlife of Mongolia
In the western and southern zones, streams flow seasonally into salt water lakes without outlets.
[10] The steppe habitat for Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa), an area of 275,000 square kilometres (106,000 sq mi), is reported to be the "largest remaining example of a temperate grassland ecosystem".
[11] Immediately after Mongolia attained independence in 1990, there was enthusiasm to declare 100 percent of the country as a national park.
[12] Some of the other protected are:[17] The flora in the wildlife area of Mongolia is of pasture lands in three-fourths of the country, which is the main source of feed for the large quantity of livestock.
Coniferous forest form the taiga region of the northern areas with alpine noted at higher zones.
The inter-montane basins, wide river valleys and the southern slopes of the mountains have steppe vegetation.
[2] Mongolia has a number of large mammals, including gray wolves and Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica), as well as more endangered species such as the wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus), the snow leopard (Uncia uncia), the Gobi bear, (rarest and unique to the desert region), the takhi (both wild and domestic types of horses) and the Asiatic wild ass (the largest numbers in the world are found in the Gobi desert).
[2] The saiga antelope, once a common species, has been reduced by pressures including hunting, livestock grazing, and high Chinese medicinal value, with the Mongolian subspecies reaching a critically endangered level, with fewer than 5,000 individuals left in the wild.
Other species of mammals reported include: argali (Ovis ammon) (in the rocky mountains of the Gobi desert), common wolf, Mongolian saiga (Saiga tatarica mongolica), musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), Pallas's cat (Felis manul) or manul, black tailed gazelle (Gazelle subgutturosa), stone martin (Martes foina), and wild cats in the Altai ecoregion; wild boar (Sus scrofa nigipes), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer in the forest areas and muskrat, red fox, steppe fox, and sable in the forest and steppe margin areas.
[2][20] Under the World Wildlife Fund-Mongolia conservation programme (a four-year project), snow leopards, Altai argali sheep, saiga antelope and gazelle of eastern Mongolia are receiving special attention.
[20] The Zoological Society of London has taken interest in conservation of the Bactrian camel, long-eared jerboa (Euchoreutes naso), Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) and saiga antelope.
Though cranes are not hunted for superstitious reasons, they are still threatened due to habitat degradation and only 5,000 breeding pairs are reported, mostly in Dornod's Mongol Daguur Biosphere Reserve.
[6] Species identified include:[20] golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus), spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia), Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus), great white egrets (Egretta alba), whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus), great black-headed gulls (Larus ichthyaetus), black storks (Ciconia nigra), swan goose (Anser cygnoides) and Altai snowcock (Tetraogallus altaicus).
[25] Other than official action to raise resources of the state, other major threats faced are illegal hunting (for musk deer, elk, boars, squirrels and marmot for illegal trade), grazing of pasture livestock and related needs of water resources (due to large increase in livestock population since 1990), climate change, fires in steppe and forests (resulting in death of many animal species) and severe cold and drought.
