The Agrakhan Peninsula () is a narrow peninsula in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

. It is located on the northwestern Caspian coast. The peninsula stretches northwards in a N/S orientation. It is long and narrow, with a length of 50 km and a width of 8 km. Chechen Island lies off its northern end, separated from the peninsula by a narrow sound. The Agrakhan Peninsula belongs to the

Dagestan Republic Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Feder ...

, a federal subject of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Ecology

The Agrakhan Peninsula is a refuge for a variety of marine birds who are protected at the northern end by the

Dagestan Nature Reserve Dagestan Nature Reserve () (also Dagestansky) is a Russian 'zapovednik' (strict nature reserve) that protects an area of sand dunes and ridges on the northwest coast of the Caspian Sea in the southeast of European Russia. The reserve, a wintering ...

. The

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

was established in 1983 and added to the Dagestan reserve in 2009. It's a long strip of territory on the northern Agrakhan Peninsula along the Caspian Sea that stretches from Chechen Island south to the Prorez River. It was founded for the protection of endangered animal species, including forty endangered species of birds that are listed in the Red Book of Russia and the red book of Dagestan, including the Dalmatian pelican or curlew.

References

Peninsulas of Russia Peninsulas of the Caspian Sea Landforms of Dagestan Seabird colonies {{Dagestan-geo-stub