Over six thousand kinds of plants are growing in Kazakhstan.
On its open spaces it is possible to meet about 500 kinds of birds,
178 kinds of animals, 49 kinds of reptiles,
12 kinds of amphibians, and in the rivers and lakes - 107 kinds of
fishes.
A variety of invertebrate animals here is even more: not only there
are more then thousand kinds of insects.
Mollusks, worms, spiders, crustaceous and others living in Kazakhstan
are not less than 30 thousand kinds.
Only in Kazakhstan
live such rare animals as Transcaspian urial, long-needle hedgehog
and some wild cats: caracal and desert cat. Here is a lot of slim
goitred gazelles,
deserted birds - black-tailed sand grouse, Pallas sand grouse, Syrrhaptes
paradoxus, wheatear and larks.
Tien
Shan scenery. Here you can easily find both Goldcrest, Regulus
regulus,
Eurasian Buzzard, Buteo buteo, and Eurasian Kestrel, Falco
tinnunculus
Copyright
© 2010 10,000 Birds.
The slopes of Northern Tien Shan are covered with fur-tree woods,
and Western Tien Shan - with the low bushes and
meadows; the gorges have apple- and nut-trees with woods, the tops
are covered with eternal snows and glaciers.
Lammergeyer, Gypaetus barbatus, med et vingespenn på
over 3 meter!
Photo: Richard Bartz, Munich aka
Makro Freak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bartgeier_Gypaetus_barbatus_front_Richard_Bartz.jpg
Only here it is possible to meet fury ounce, Tien
Shan brown bear, Siberian ibex, and from birds - famous lammergeyer,
the scope of which wings reaches more than three meters, Snow cock
(it calls also mountain turkey), snow vulture,
griffon vulture, favorite of the Kazakh hunters -
golden eagle, high-mountainous finches, chough and Alpine chough.
In the Altai mountains of Kazakhstan, covered with taiga woods
you will meet a giant moose, beautiful maral,
our smallest deer - musk deer, famous sable, chipmunk.
 
Photo credit: Brent Huffman,
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/saiga.htm
The Saiga antelope once roamed from western Europe, across the
Eurasian continent and into Alaska.
It now only lives in areas of the dry steppes and semi deserts
of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Kalmykia.
The Saiga is a very curious looking animal. Most remarkable
about it is its huge nose.Its internal structure is
composed of an intricate network of bones, hairs,
and mucous-secreting glands. During summer migrations
it helps filter out dust kicked up by the herd and cools
the animals blood. During the winter it heats up the
frigid air before it is taken into the lungs, thereby reducing
heat loss in its body.
Info this frame from http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/saiga.htm
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Here is possible to see capercaillie, Tetrao urogallus,
hazel grouse, Bonasa bonasia, partridges.
On high-mountainous lake Markakol in Southern Altai ofKazakhstan
was founded a national park for protection
of flora and fauna, especially of fishes. On lakes there are a lot
of waterfowl birds. And in the woods on its coast were
kept nesting-places of such rare birds as fish hawk and black stork,
Ciconia nigra; at tops are living very rare here snow cock.
Photo from http://petcrunch.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html
A tame golden eagle chases a hare during a traditional hunting
contest in central Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan's national sport of Sayat - or hunting with golden
eagles - is popular in the Central Asian state.
This hare escaped from eagle.
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The steppes of Kazakhstan are magnificent. The special charm to
them is given by fresh and salty lakes, on which are
thousands of waterfowls and coastal birds submitted tens kinds of
ducks, geese, gull, sea swallow, herons.
Besides lakes most southern here in Kazakhstan is protected unique
pine wood. A lot of predatory birds are living in
Kazakhstan steppes - imperial eagle, falcons.
Eurasian
Capercaill, Tetrao urogallus
Source: http://www.belforest-centre.com/images/animals/capercailye/capercailye_002.jpg
The deserts of Kazakhstan are rather original. Basically, it is
extensive clay plains, covered by bushes and warmot.
For Kazakhstan deserts are most typical reptiles - Central Asian
turtle, the largest lizard - grey monitor lizard
(lives only in Kyzylkum desert), sand- and toad agama, many kinds
of gecko and 17 kinds of the snakes,
from which only three are poisonous: steppe and ordinary adder and
mocassin.
The Piebald Shrew ( Diplomesodon pulchellum) belongs
to the smallest mammal of the world – the shrew.
Its body mass is about 10 grams. The Piebald Shrew lives in
the deserts of Kazakhstan and Turkmenia,
avoiding areas of shifting sand. In Russia it is found in
the South of the Astrakhan Region and is recognized
as a rare animal. In Kazakhstan the Piebald Shrew is
included in the Red Data Book of Threatened Species.
The Shrews are amazing animals: their metabolism
rate is unusually high. They eat a lot of food and digest
it very
fast. Most of the animals may die if they do not have any
food for more then three hours. The Shrew`s diet
consists mainly of lizards and insects. The Shrew can catch
a lizard almost twice its own size and eat it in one go.
However, living in the desert, the Piebald
Shrew has adapted to regular periods when water or food are
not
available. Unlike other shrews, it can live without food for
some time, and under such unfavorable conditions
it falls into a stupor-like state.
Photo and text in this frame: http://www.moscowzoo.ru/get.asp?Id=N232
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Dalmatian
pelicans, Pelecanus crispus, at Irgiz-Turgay
(photo courtesy GEF/UNDP)
(Courtesy Photo)
The work of conservation groups and state agencies have resulted
in the establishment of a new nature
reserve in the steppes of northwestern Kazakhstan.
The Irgiz-Turgay project safeguards habitat
for the rare saiga antelope and endangered bird species.
But environmentalists say it is part of a much larger initiative
to create a system of protected areas of more
than 6 million hectares in Kazakhstan's steppes.
A
scene from Irgiz-Turgay
(photo courtesy Sergey Yerokhov)
Last year, our Association for the Conservation
of Biodiversity [in Kazakhstan] organized two special surveys
at the lakes [of the lower Irgiz and Turgay river basins]
and found more than 300 pairs of Dalmatian pelicans, Pelecanus
crispus, [and] more than 300 [specimens of] white-headed
ducks.
And the total number of waterbirds in summer 2006 was about
250,000. In autumn 2005 about 200,000.
The Dalmatian pelican's breeding grounds include
Central Asia, South Caucasus, Russia, Ukraine, and Iran.
Following massive declines, its population is believed to
have stabilized at up to 20,000 individuals.
White-headed ducks, Oxyura leucocephala,
breed primarily in Russia and Kazakhstan, but also Central
Asia,
Iran, Afghanistan, and Armenia. Their numbers are believed
to have declined to some 10,000.
text and photo in this frame
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1075716.html
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see also
http://www.birds.kz/photosonlye.html
http://aboutkazakhstan.com/about-kazakhstan-flora-and-fauna
http://www.orexca.com/photogalleryfull/1053
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