Post by WaterSinger on May 2, 2010 14:59:14 GMT -5
Animal life is varied. The wildlife of the tundra along the Arctic coast, northern Pacific coast, and offshore islands is surprisingly diverse, and includes the polar bear, seals, walrus, the polar fox, reindeer, pika, marmot, and the white hare. Birdlife includes white partridges, snowy owls, gulls, and loons. Geese, swans, and ducks migrate into the region during the summer, which is characterized by the appearance of millions of mosquitoes, gnats, and other insects. Fish abound in the streams. The taiga forest serves as a habitat for the European elk, brown bears, reindeer, the lynx, the sable, and a variety of forest birds, such as owls and the nightingale. Swamps in this zone have been stocked with muskrats from Canada; along with squirrels. The broadleaf forests contain wild boars, deer, wolves, foxes, minks, and a variety of birds, snakes, lizards, and tortoises. The forests of south-eastern Far Eastern Russia are the habitat of the large Siberian tiger, as well as of the Amur leopard, bears, and musk and other species of deer. The steppe is inhabited primarily by rodents such as marmots, hamsters, and five species of suslik, a type of ground squirrel. Human activities have led to the extinction, or near-extinction of most large grazing mammals, and their predators. Those that remain include the saiga antelope, although this is under renewed threat, the steppe polecat, and the Tatar fox. Birdlife indigenous to the area includes the demoiselle crane, the steppe eagle, and the great and little bustard, finches, pratincoles, and kestrels and other falcons. The Caucasus region has a wide variety of wildlife, including mountain goats, the chamois, the Caucasian deer, the wild boar, the porcupine, the Anatolian leopard, the jackal, squirrels, bear, and such game fowl as the black grouse, turkey hen, and stone partridge. Reptiles and amphibians are also numerous.