Barsa-Kelmes Nature Reserve ( kk, Барсакелмес мемлекеттік табиғи қорығы, ''Barsakelmes memlekettık tabiği qoryğy'') is a
wildlife refuge
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
on the former
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...
of
Barsa-Kelmes
Barsa-Kelmes (russian: Барсакельмес, kk, Барсакелмес, ''Barsakelmes'' meaning "the place of no return") is a former island, the largest in the Aral Sea. Its area was 133 km2 in the 1980s, but as the sea became more ...
in
Kyzylorda Region
Kyzylorda Region ( kk, Қызылорда облысы, translit=Qyzylorda oblysy; russian: Кызылординская область, translit=Kyzylordinskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is the city of Kyzylorda, with a pop ...
of
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, in
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
.
It was founded in 1939.
Барсакельмесский заповедник
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
The island on which the reserve is situated is in the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic lake lying between Kazak ...
. Its territory is around 300 square kilometres. Some 250 species of plants constitute its flora. Its fauna numbers 56 species of animals, and includes, among others, the Transcaspian wild ass, goitered gazelle, corsac fox
The corsac fox (''Vulpes corsac''), also known simply as a corsac, is a medium-sized fox found in steppes, semi-deserts and deserts in Central Asia, ranging into Mongolia and northern China. Since 2004, it has been classified as ''least concern ...
, and Eurasian wolf
The Eurasian wolf (''Canis lupus lupus''), also known as the common wolf,Mech, L. David (1981), ''The Wolf: The Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species'', University of Minnesota Press, p. 354, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to Euro ...
. There are 203 bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
species in the area.
References
External links
a Kazakhstani tourist site, from which the original text of this article was lifted
Nature reserves in Kazakhstan
Kyzylorda Region
Aral Sea
Protected areas established in 1939
1939 establishments in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
{{Kazakhstan-geo-stub