Eastern Gobi Desert Steppe
The Eastern Gobi desert steppe is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in Mongolia and northern China. It is the easternmost of the ecoregions that make up the larger Gobi Desert. It lies between the more humid Mongolian–Manchurian grassland on the north, east, and southeast, and the drier Alashan Plateau semi-desert to the west. Geography The ecoregion lies on a plateau, mostly between 1000 and 1500 meters elevation. The ecoregion extends southwest along the Yin Mountains, which rise between 1,500 and 2,200 meters elevation. There are no large rivers in the ecoregion. Most of the ecoregion lies in closed basins, with intermittent streams that drain into salt pans and small ponds. Climate The climate is arid and continental. Winters are intensely cold, with January mean temperatures of . Summers are warm to hot, depending on elevation. The mean annual temperature ranges from -2 to -6 °C. Annual rainfall ranges from 100 to 150 mm, falling mostly in the summer, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mongolian Wild Ass
The Mongolian wild ass (''Equus hemionus hemionus''), also known as Mongolian khulan, is the nominate subspecies of the onager. It is found in southern Mongolia and northern China. It was previously found in eastern Kazakhstan and southern Siberia before being extirpated there through hunting. As of 2015, the Mongolian wild ass is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. Current population estimates are approximately 42,000 individuals in Mongolia and around 5,000 individuals in Northern China. Taxonomy and etymology The Mongolian wild ass is synonymous with the Gobi khulan (''Equus hemionus luteus''), also called the chigetai, dziggetai or simply ', . The term ''khulan'' is cognate with the Turkmenian kulan. Habitat and population The Mongolian wild ass has become primarily confined to the desert-steppe, semi-desert and deserts habitats of Gobi Desert. The Mongolian wild ass is the most widespread subspecies, although despite that, the subspecies lost about 50% of its forme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Artemisia Xerophytica
Artemisia may refer to: People * Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece * Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under the First Persian Empire, ordered the construction of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus * Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1656/1653), Italian painter Places * Artemisia, Messinia, a Greek village west of Taygetus mountain in the Peloponnese * Artemisia, Zakynthos, a municipality on Zakynthos, Greece * Artemisia Geyser, in Yellowstone National Park, US * Artemisia pipe, a diatreme in the Northwest Territories, Canada * Kingdom of Artemisia, a regional designation created by the Society for Creative Anachronism Opera * ''Artemisia'' (Cavalli), a 1657 opera by Cavalli * ''Artemisia'', a 1754 opera seria by Johann Adolph Hasse *''Artemisia, Regina di Caria'', a 1797 opera by Domenico Cimarosa * ''Artemisia'' (Cimarosa), an 1801 opera by Dome ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dipodidae
Jerboas () are the members of the family Dipodidae. They are hopping desert rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia. They tend to live in hot deserts. When chased, jerboas can run at up to . Some species are preyed on by little owls (''Athene noctua'') in central Asia. Most species of jerboas have excellent hearing that they use to avoid becoming the prey of nocturnal predators. The typical lifespan of a jerboa is around 2–3 years. Taxonomy Jerboas, as previously defined, were thought to be paraphyletic, with the jumping mice ( Zapodidae) and birch mice (Sminthidae) also being classified in the family Dipodidae. However, phylogenetic analysis split all three as distinct families, leaving just the jerboas in Dipodidae and revealing them to be a monophyletic group. This animal has a body length (including the head) of between , with an additional of tail, which is always longer than the full body. Jerboa dental records reveal a slow increase in crown heights, which c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marbled Polecat
The marbled polecat (''Vormela peregusna'') is a small mammal belonging to the genus ''Vormela'' within the mustelid subfamily Ictonychinae. ''Vormela'' is from the German language, German word , which means "little worm". The specific name (zoology), specific name ''peregusna'' comes from (), which is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian for "polecat". Marbled polecats are generally found in the drier areas and grasslands of southeastern Europe to western China. Like other members of the Ictonychinae, it can emit a strong-smelling secretion from anal sacs under the tail when threatened. Description Ranging in length from 29–35 cm (head and body), the marbled polecat has a short muzzle and very large, noticeable ears. The limbs are short and claws are long and strong. While the tail is long, with long hair, the overall pelage is short. Black and white mark the face, with a black stripe across the eyes and white markings around the mouth. Dorsally, the pelage is yellow and he ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Goitered Gazelle
The goitered gazelle (''Gazella subgutturosa'') or black-tailed gazelle is a gazelle native to Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, parts of Iraq and Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and in northwestern China and Mongolia. The specific name, meaning "full below the throat", refers to the male having an enlargement of the neck and throat during the mating season. Distribution and habitat The goitered gazelle inhabits sands and gravel plains and limestone plateau. Large herds were also present in the Near East. Some 6,000 years ago, they were captured and killed with the help of desert kites. Rock art found in Jordan suggests that it was slaughtered ritually. Behaviour and ecology Its mating behaviour is polygynous and usually occurs in the early winter. It runs at high speed, without the leaping, bounding gait seen in other gazelle species. Throughout much of its range, the goitered gazelle migrates seasonally. Herds cov ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saiga Antelope
The saiga antelope (, ''Saiga tatarica''), or saiga, is a species of antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe, spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in the southwest into Mongolia in the northeast and Dzungaria in the southeast. During the Pleistocene, it ranged across the mammoth steppe from the British Isles to Beringia. Today, the dominant subspecies (''S. t. tatarica'') only occurs in Kalmykia and Astrakhan Oblast of Russia and in the Ural, Ustyurt and Betpak-Dala regions of Kazakhstan. A portion of the Ustyurt population migrates south to Uzbekistan and occasionally to Turkmenistan in winter. It is regionally extinct in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, China and southwestern Mongolia. The Mongolian subspecies (''S. t. mongolica'') occurs only in western Mongolia. Taxonomy and phylogeny The scientific name ''Capra tatarica'' was coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the 12th edition of ''Systema Natu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kumis
''Kumis'' ( , ), alternatively spelled ''coumis'' or ''kumyz'', also known as ''airag'' ( ), is a traditional Fermented milk products, fermented dairy product made from mare milk. The drink is important to the peoples of the Central and East Asian steppes, of Turkic peoples, Turkic and Mongolic peoples, Mongolic origin: Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Kyrgyz people, Kyrgyz, Mongols, and Yakuts. Kumis was historically consumed by the Khitan people, Khitans, Jurchen people, Jurchens, Magyars, and Han Chinese of North China as well. ''Kumis'' is a dairy product similar to kefir, but is produced from a liquid starter culture, in contrast to the solid kefir "grains". Because mare's milk contains more sugars than cow's or goat's milk, when fermented, ''kumis'' has a higher, though still mild, alcohol (drug), alcohol content compared to kefir. Even in the areas of the world where ''kumis'' is popular today, mare's milk remains a very limited commodity. Industrial-scale production, ther ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Browsing (herbivory)
Browsing is a type of herbivory in which a herbivore (or, more narrowly defined, a folivore) feeds on leaves, soft Shoot (botany), shoots, or fruits of high-growing, generally woody plants such as shrubs. This is contrasted with Grazing (behaviour), grazing, usually associated with animals feeding on grass or other lower vegetations. Alternatively, grazers are animals eating mainly grass, and browsers are animals eating mainly non-grasses, which include both woody and herbaceous Dicotyledon, dicots. In either case, an example of this dichotomy are goats (which are primarily browsers) and Domestic sheep, sheep (which are primarily grazers). Browse The plant material eaten is known as ''browse'' and is in nature taken directly from the plant, though owners of livestock such as goats and deer may cut twigs or branches for feeding to their stock. In temperate regions, owners take browse before leaf fall, then dry and store it as a winter feed supplement. In time of drought, herdsme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Allium Polyrhizum
''Allium polyrhizum'' is a species of wild onion widespread across Zabaykalsky Krai, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China (Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Xinjiang) at elevations 1000–3700 m. ''Allium polyrhizum'' produces clumps of many narrowly cylindrical bulbs, each generally less than 10 cm in diameter. Scape is up to 30 cm long, round in cross-section. Leaves are tubular, less than 1 cm across, shorter than the scape. Umbel is hemispheric with many densely packed flowers. Tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of ve ... are usually pink or purple but occasionally white, either way with a green midvein. References polyrhizum Onions Flora of Kazakhstan Flora of Mongolia Flora of C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cleistogenes Soongorica
''Cleistogenes'' is a genus of Eurasian flowering plants in the grass family. The name ''Cleistogenes'' was for a time considered an invalidly published name synonymous with ''Kengia,'' but revisions to the Code of Nomenclature have reversed this situation. ''Cleistogenes'' is now the correct name. ; Species * '' Cleistogenes caespitosa'' Keng - China * '' Cleistogenes festucacea'' Honda - China * '' Cleistogenes gatacrei'' (Stapf) Bor - Afghanistan, Pakistan * '' Cleistogenes hackelii'' (Honda) Honda - China, Japan, Korea * '' Cleistogenes hancei'' Keng - China, Primorye * ''Cleistogenes kitagawae'' Honda - Hebei, Liaoning, Mongolia, Russian Far East, Siberia * '' Cleistogenes mucronata'' Keng f. - China * '' Cleistogenes nedoluzhkoi'' Tzvelev - Primorye * ''Cleistogenes polyphylla'' Keng f. - China * '' Cleistogenes ramiflora'' Keng f. & C.P.Wang - Inner Mongolia * ''Cleistogenes serotina'' (L.) Keng - Eurasia from Spain to Kazakhstan * '' Cleistogenes songorica'' (Roshev.) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stipa Glareosa
''Stipa'' is a genus of 141 species of large perennial hermaphroditic grasses collectively known as feather grass, needle grass, and spear grass. They are placed in the subfamily Pooideae and the tribe Stipeae, which also contains many species formerly assigned to ''Stipa'', which have since been reclassified into new genera. Many species are important forage crops. Several species such as ''Stipa brachytricha'', ''S. arundinacea'', ''S. splendens'', ''S. calamagrostis'', ''S. gigantea'' and ''S. pulchra'' are used as ornamental plants. One former species, esparto grass (''Macrochloa tenacissima''), is used for crafts and extensively in paper making. It is a coarse grass with inrolled leaves and a panicle patterned inflorescence. Ecology Species of the genus ''Stipa'' can occur in grasslands or in savanna habitats. Certain specific prairie plant associations are dominated by grasses of the genus ''Stipa'', which genus often lends its name to the terminology of some prairie typ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |