Great Gobi Protected Areas

GREAT GOBI STRICTLY PROTECTED AREA	Natural zone: desert, desert steppe. Special features: preserves representative example of Gobi desert; important habitat area for globally rare and endangered species; World Biosphere Reserve, designated 1991; last site Przewalski's horse recorded in the wild. Size and location: 5.3 million hectares in two parts, including the 4.4 million hectare Southern Altai Gobi (Gobi A) and the 881,000 hectare Dzungarian Gobi (Gobi B). Situated in Bayanhongor, Gobi-Altai, and Khovd provinces. Established: 1975.
Mongolia's Great Gobi reserve protects a largely undisturbed part of the vast Gobi desert, and provides a last refuge for representatives of the ancient terrestrial fauna of Central Asia. In recognition of its unique qualities, the Mongolian government established the Great Gobi Strictly Protected area in 1975. In 1991, the United Nations designated the Great Gobi as an international Biosphere Reserve, the fourth largest Biosphere Reserve in the world, and the largest in Asia.
The protected area is divided into two ecologically distinct parts, the Southern Altai Gobi ("Gobi A") and the Dzungarian Gobi ("Gobi B"), separated by 300 lometers. Scientists have identified 410 species of plants, 49 species of mammals, 15 reptiles and amphibians and over 150 bird species in the protected ,area. While the Southern Altai Gobi is uninhabited except for park staff and border guards, the Dzungarian Gobi is seasonally used by herders.	Plate-tailed Gecko Teratoscincus przewalskii Found in the Gobi desert, this lizard is endemic to Central Asia.
The terrain features small mountain ranges and massifs broken by wide valleys, rolling plains, outwashes and hummocks. Contrary to what many people imagine, very little of the area is covered by sand. Atas Mountain is the highest point in the Great Gobi protected area, at 2695 meters above sea level, while the lowest point is 583 meters. The larger Southern Altai Gobi exhibits flora and fauna typical of the deserts of Central Asia. Desert steppe species are found primarily at higher elevations, and saxaul forests occur on mountain slopes. As one moves south, the climate becomes increasingly arid, and lowelevation, southern regions of the Southern Altai Gobi are characterized by a special zone of stone-covered super-arid desert where higher plants are largely absent except in dry washes and depressions.	Wild Camel (Khavtgai) Camelus bactrianus ferus The Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area and adjacent border areas in China provide a last home for the wild Bactrian camel, one of the rarest and least studied mammals on earth. The Gobi's wild camels are the last surviving wild ancestors of the world's domestic Bactrian (two-humped) camels. Biologists estimate that approximately 300 camels remain, and that the population is declining. Additional research on this species is urgently needed.
Though the Southern Altai Gobi's vast plains and valleys and rugged, and mountain ranges appear almost lifeless from a distance, the area provides a last haven for some of the rarest and most endangered species of wildlife found on earth. Perhaps 30 Gobi bears (Ursus arctos), the world's only desert-living bear, and Mongolia's last wild Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) inhabit the protected area. Reptiles found here that are endemic to Central Asia include the Gobi gecko (Cyrtapodion elongatus) and Tatar sand boa (Eryx tataricus). The Dzungarian Gobi exhibits the ecological influences of the deserts of both Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Vegetation is more plentiful, owing to greater precipitation. In both parts of the protected area, vegetation is characterized by feather grasses, shrubs, and semi-shrubs. Small groves of downy poplar (Populus diversifolia) border oases. The Dzungarian, which is largely desert steppe, provides important habitat for the world's largest remaining herds of wild ass (Equus hemionus) as well as herds of blacktailed gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa). The Dzungarian was the last refuge for the world's only remaining truly wild horse, the Takhi, or Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii).	Asiatic Wild Ass (Khulan) Equus hemionus Herds of khulan, the wild ancestor of the domestic ass, are common in the desert and desert steppe along Mongolia's southern border with China, particularly in the Dzungarian Gobi and areas east of the protected area. Khulan, which live in herds of as many as 500 animals, can run up to 65 km per hour, easily outdistancing most predators. Although little is known about them, it is believed that khulan are expanding their range in Mongolia, though domestic livestock increasingly compete with them for pasture. The Gobi's wild ass population is the largest of four sub-populations of the Asiatic wild ass in the world, the others being in Turkmenistan and India.
In both areas, permanent water sources are critical to large mammals and many other desert animals. Springs are particularly scarce in the Southern Altai Gobi, where they are concentrated in mountain massifs and low hills, while the region's plains and rolling terrain are largely devoid of surface water. By contrast, in the Dzungarian Gobi, more favorable precipitation patterns lead to more frequent, evenly distributed water sources.	Jerboa Eleven species of jerboa inhabit the two sectors of the Great Gobi reserve. The main group of these jerboas constitutes the endemic species of the Central Asian deserts. These small nocturnal animals can jump as far as 3 meters. jerboas have keen hearing and large eyes for seeing in the dark.
Threats to the protected area include uncontrolled motor-vehicle use and human and domestic livestock use of scarce natural water sources and pastures important to wildlife in the Dzungarian and northern part of the Southern Altai Gobi.	Takhi (Przewalski's horse) Equus przewalskii The Takhi, or Przewalski's horse, is the last true wild horse in the world, the wild relative of the domestic horses found today across the globe. When the Takhi disappeared from the Gobi in the late 1960s, the world was left with a small captive breeding population of horses descended from only thirteen animals. Since then, breeding programs in zoos and reserves around the world have increased the captive population to over 1200 of the golden brown, black-maned horses. Today, the Takhi is the subject of several international reintroduction efforts at two sites in Mongolia. One, at Takhiin Tal in the Dzungarian Gobi and the other in forest steppe at Khustain Mountain Natural Reserve. As a result of these activities, Mongolia now has over 60 Takhi.

Eastern Mongolian Protected Area Uvs Lake Protected Area