The Sikhote-Alin (russian: Сихотэ́-Али́нь, , , ) is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, extending about to the northeast of the Russian Pacific seaport of

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

. The highest summits are Tordoki Yani at above sea level,

Ko Mountain Ko (russian: Ко) is a peak in the southern part of Khabarovsk Krai near the border of Primorsky Krai. It sits at 2,003 m above sea level. It is the second highest point of the Sikhote-Alin Mountains The Sikhote-Alin (russian: Сихотэ́-� ...

() in Khabarovsk Krai and

Anik Mountain Anik Mountain () is the highest peak of Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located in the north of Primorsky Krai on the border with Khabarovsk Krai. Anik Mountain is third highest peak (after Tordoki Yani and Ko Mountain) of the Sikhote-Alin mountai ...

() in

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of t ...

Geography

Sikhote-Alin is a temperate zone, though species typical of northern

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...

(such as

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...

and the

Ussuri brown bear The Ussuri brown bear (''Ursus arctos lasiotus''), also known as the Ezo brown bear, Russian bear, or the black grizzly bear, is a subspecies of the brown bear or a population of the Eurasian brown bear (''U. a. arctos''). One of the largest b ...

) coexist with the

Amur tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies '' Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inhabi ...

Amur leopard The Amur leopard (''Panthera pardus orientalis'') is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and northern China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as in 2007, only 19–26 wild leopar ...

, and Asiatic black bear. The region holds very few

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

, due to competition with tigers. The longest-lived tree in the region is a millennium-old Japanese yew. Many tributaries of the Amur River lie within the range, including the Gur.Water of Russia - Гур
/ref> The core zone can only be explored in a company of rangers.

History

The name is thought to be of Manchu origin ( mnc, alin "mountain"). In the 1910s and 1920s, Sikhote-Alin was extensively explored by Russian geographer and naturalist

Vladimir Arsenyev Vladimir Klavdiyevich Arsenyev, (russian: Влади́мир Кла́вдиевич Арсе́ньев; 10 September 1872 – 4 September 1930) was a Russian explorer of the Far East who recounted his travels in a series of books — "По ...

(1872–1930), who described his adventures in several books, notably '' Dersu Uzala'' (1923), which in 1975 was turned into an Oscar-winning film by

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

. Largely due to his exploration and advocacy, the large Sikhote-Alin and Lazo wildlife refuges were set up in 1935 to preserve the region's unusual wildlife. On February 12, 1947, one of the largest meteor showers in recent history occurred in the mountains range. The

Sikhote-Alin meteorite An iron meteorite fell on the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, in southeastern Russia, in 1947. Large iron meteorite falls have been witnessed and fragments recovered but never before, in recorded history, a fall of this magnitude. An estimated 23 tonnes ...

exploded in the atmosphere as it fell, raining many tons of metal on an elliptical region about in area. Craters were formed by the meteors; the largest was in diameter. In 2001,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

placed "Central Sikhote-Alin" onto the

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

, citing its importance for "the survival of endangered species such as the scaly-sided (Chinese) merganser, Blakiston's fish-owl and the

". The World Heritage site had a total area of , of which the terrestrial core zone of Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik comprised . In 2018, the World heritage site was expanded by by including

Bikin National Park Bikin National Park (russian: Национальный парк «Бикин») was created on November 3, 2015 to protect the largest remaining old-growth mixed forest in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as the territory of 10% of all Amur tigers ...

under the name "Bikin River Valley".

References

External links

UNESCO — Sikhote-Alin World Heritage Site
- ''a
Natural Heritage Protection Fund
'
Zhuravlev, Yu. N., ed. (2000) ''Стратегия сохранения биоразнообразия Сихотэ-Алиня = A Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for the Sikhote-Alin Vladivostok: Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch
{{Authority control Landforms of the Russian Far East World Heritage Sites in Russia Landforms of Primorsky Krai Mountain ranges of Khabarovsk Krai Mountain ranges of Russia