Mongolia

Asia

Capital: UlaanbaatarJune to September

105

Documented species

Parks and reserves

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Mongolia is the sovereign country with the lowest population density in the world and its landscape reflects it: steppes that run out to the horizon, wooded taiga mountains in the north, glaciers in the Altai and, to the south, the Gobi, a desert of gravel, dunes and red cliffs famous for its beds of dinosaur eggs and skeletons. That fenceless immensity means mass ungulate migrations still exist: hundreds of thousands of Mongolian gazelles move across the eastern steppe following the rains, in one of the last great herbivore movements on the planet. Lake Hovsgol, in the north, holds a large share of the country's fresh water, and the western mountains support one of the most numerous snow leopard populations in the world.

The nature of Mongolia

National animal: The Przewalski's horse, or takhi, the national animal and the only truly wild horse left in the world

Did you know?

In the Gobi survives the mazaalai, the only bear in the world adapted to living in a true desert. Fewer than forty animals remain, scattered across a handful of oases in an immense arid zone, and they feed mainly on roots, berries and rodents. It is probably the rarest bear on the planet, and the Mongolian government went so far as to declare an official year devoted to its conservation in an attempt to save it.

Biodiversity profile

Asia Oriental/Central (pais sin litoral)Aprox. 13,8-17% del territorio bajo mas de 60 areas protegidas (incluyendo 22 Areas Estrictamente Protegidas que cubren el 8,8% del pais); meta nacional de 30% para 2030 aun no alcanzada

Climate

•Continental extremo semiarido y arido (BSk/BWk), con inviernos muy frios y veranos cortos y calidos; uno de los paises con mayor amplitud termica del mundo

Main biomes

•Estepa (cubre aprox. el 80% del territorio, con estepa de pradera, tipica y desertica)
•Desierto de Gobi (segundo desierto mas grande de Asia)
•Taiga siberiana (norte)
•Montañas Altai (oeste)
•Estepa continental
•Desierto del Gobi
•Taiga boreal meridional
•Alta montaña del Altái
•Lago de agua dulce
•Oasis desértico
•Pradera de montaña

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•No aplica (pais sin litoral); el Lago Khuvsgul es un ecosistema de agua dulce de gran relevancia ecologica

Flagship wildlife

•Leopardo de las nieves
•Caballo de Przewalski (unico caballo silvestre verdadero, reintroducido tras su extincion en estado salvaje)
•Gacela mongola
•Asno salvaje asiatico
•Camello bactriano salvaje (En Peligro Critico)
•Gato de Pallas
•Oso del Gobi
•Argalí
•Íbice siberiano
•Lobo gris
•Halcón sacre

Notable endemic species

•Aprox. 150 especies endemicas de un total de 2.835 especies de flora registradas
•La estepa mongola es uno de los ultimos refugios mundiales para especies migratorias propias de pastizales templados, con 391 de las 472 especies de aves del pais siendo migratorias a traves de 4 rutas de vuelo globales
•Oso del Gobi
•Camello bactriano salvaje

Notable threatened species

•Camello bactriano salvaje (En Peligro Critico)
•Leopardo de las nieves (Vulnerable)
•Mas de 100 especies de plantas clasificadas como raras o en peligro

Notable protected areas

•Estepa Oriental de Mongolia (10 veces el tamaño del Serengeti africano, mayor pastizal templado intacto del mundo)
•Zona Estrictamente Protegida de Dornod Mongol
•Region del Lago Khuvsgul y las Montañas Khangai
•Parque Nacional del Gran Gobi
•Parque Nacional de Hustai
•Parque Nacional de Gorkhi-Terelj
•Reserva de Hovsgol
•Parque Nacional del Altái Tavan Bogd
•Reserva de la Estepa Oriental

Main conservation threats

•Fragmentacion y degradacion ecologica
•Desecacion de fuentes de agua y desertificacion
•Falta de datos y mapas precisos que dificultan la implementacion de salvaguardas ambientales
•Presion de la mineria sobre el objetivo de conservacion del 30% del territorio

Notable natural phenomena

•La Estepa Oriental de Mongolia sostiene mas de un millon de gacelas mongolas, una de las mayores concentraciones de ungulados migratorios de Asia
•Encuentro de cuatro grandes ecosistemas: taiga siberiana, estepa centroasiatica, montañas Altai y desierto de Gobi

Conservation

The Przewalski's horse became extinct in the wild in the 1960s and was returned to the steppes of Hustai from 1992 with animals bred in European zoos; today there are wild herds in the country once more. Overgrazing from the growth of cashmere goat flocks is degrading the steppe.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Hustai at dawn and dusk for Przewalski's horses. The Altai in summer for argali and ibex and in winter for snow leopard. The eastern steppe in autumn for gazelles.

Sources: largelandscapes.org - Mongolia FOCUS Brief | conservationstandards.org - Protecting Mongolia's steppe and mountains | The Nature Conservancy - Mongolia Protects Animals | Wikipedia - Wildlife of Mongolia | amicusmongolia.com - Strictly Protected Areas Mongolia

Desert Mountain Grassland Freshwater