Page 80 - World of Animals - Issue #41

Wildlife of the Asian Steppe

Coping with extremes Demoiselle crane

The demoiselle crane is found through much of
Eurasia during the summer, migrating to Africa or
With daily and seasonal extremes of temperature, only specially adapted India to overwinter. They are most commonly found
animals can survive here. Other threats such as hunting and climate in grasslands near water features such as rivers,
change make life on the steppes even more challenging shallow lakes and wetlands, and eat a wide range of
plants, invertebrates and small lizards.
To cope with seasonal temperature regularly drop below -40 degrees
variations, many steppe species Celsius (-40 degrees Fahrenheit). Great bustard
migrate annually. Some, such as Several steppe species are sadly The male great bustard is one of the
heaviest flying birds in the world,

Mongolian gazelle and saiga antelope, becoming increasingly endangered although females can be as little as
travel across the steppes in search of due to hunting, especially the iconic half the size. Reaching up to one metre
lush vegetation. In contrast, many of saiga antelope, which is prized for its (3.28 feet) tall, they can weigh over 20
the native birds travel much further horns, skin and meat. The erection of kilograms (44 pounds). Despite their
robust size, they mainly feed on plants,

afield to southern Asia or Africa. fences is also preventing the natural invertebrates and seeds, and migrate
Other animals, including the long- migration patterns of many species, based on seasonal food availability.
tailed suslik and the Russian dwarf and climate change is having a
hamster, hibernate through the harsh devastating effect, causing problems
winter conditions, when temperatures such as drought and soil erosion.
Steppes in the world
Steppes are a type of habitat consisting of
grassland plains without many trees. They
are found in a huge belt across central
Eurasia, stretching all the way from Ukraine
to China and Russia. There are also steppes
(prairies) in North America, and a similar
habitat type in some tropical regions.

Przewalski’s horse
The Przewalski’s horse is an endangered
subspecies of wild horse, which lives in small
herds. It became extinct in the wild in 1966, but
was reintroduced to Mongolia in 1992. There
are now thought to be over 300 horses, which
feed on grassy vegetation and migrate between
water sources to survive periods of drought.

Chinese rat snake
The Chinese rat snake is a
Long-tailed suslik nonvenomous snake found
The long-tailed suslik (also across Southeast Asia. It is a dull
known as the Eversmann’s brown or olive colour on top, with
souslik) is a species of a pale yellow underside. It feeds
ground-squirrel found in predominantly on rodents, but
China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia also eats frogs, lizards, other
and Russia. With a compact snakes and birds. They survive
body and bushy tail, they the harsh steppe winters by
are able to keep warm in hibernating on rocky outcrops.
winter while hibernating in
underground burrow systems.
Russian dwarf hamster
Mole rat

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