The Western Caucasus is a western region of the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

in Southern Russia, extending from the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus; ; is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant stratovolcano rising above sea level, and is the highest volcano in Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world. It is situated in the south ...

World Heritage Site

European bison on stamp Russia West Caucasus 2006

The Western Caucasus includes a natural

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

(named Western Caucasus), comprising the extreme western edge of the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...

. UNESCO specialists say that it is the only large mountain area in Europe that has not experienced significant human impact and has large areas of undisturbed mountain forest. Its

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are exceptionally varied for such a small area, ranging from

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

s to

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s. It is situated 50 km north of the resort of

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

. The site includes the whole

Caucasus Nature Reserve Caucasus Nature Reserve is a Russian ''zapovednik'' (strict ecological reserve) covering a heavily mountainous section of the Northwest Caucasus Mountains. It is the largest and oldest in the territory of specially protected natural area in the C ...

with the exception of the Khosta Yew-Box Grove and including the whole

Lago-Naki plateau The Lago-Naki plateau () is a plateau in the Western Caucasus at an altitude of up to 2,200 meters known for its alpine meadows. Nearly all of it is within the Maykopsky District, Adygea Adygea ( ), officially the Republic of Adygea or the Adyg ...

Biosphere Reserve

The Western Caucasus also contains the

( IUCN management category Ia Kavkazskiy Biosphere Reserve
profile at

website) set up by the Soviet government in

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...

Adygea Adygea ( ), officially the Republic of Adygea or the Adygean Republic, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is a part of the Southern Federal District, and covers an a ...

and

Karachay–Cherkessia Karachay-Cherkessia (), officially the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. It is administratively part of the North Caucasian Federal District. As of the 2021 census, Karachay-Cherkessia has a popul ...

in 1924 to preserve some 85 m-high specimens of the

Nordmann fir ''Abies nordmanniana'', the Nordmann fir or Caucasian fir, is a fir indigenous to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia and the Russian Caucasus. It occurs at altitudes of 900–2,200 m on mountains with precipit ...

(''Abies nordmanniana''), thought to be the tallest trees in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and a unique forest formed by English yew (''Taxus baccata'') and European box (''Buxus sempervirens'') within the city of

. About a third of its high mountain species of plants are recognized as

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

. The area also includes the

Sochi National Park Sochi National Park (, also Sochinsky National Park) is Russia's oldest national park, established on May 5, 1983. It is located in the Western Caucasus, near the city of Sochi, in Southern Russia. Topography Sochi National Park covers within t ...

(IUCN management category II) with a

Persian leopard ''Panthera pardus tulliana'', also called Persian leopard, Anatolian leopard, and Caucasian leopard in different parts of its range, is a leopard subspecies that was first described in 1856 based on a zoological specimen found in western Anato ...

reintroduction centre. The Western Caucasus is also the place of origin and of reintroduction of the

Caucasian wisent The Caucasian wisent (''Bison bonasus caucasicus'') or dombay (''домбай'') was a subspecies of European bison that inhabited the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe. Description Little is known about the morphology of this subspecies, i ...

. The last wild wisent in the world was killed by poachers here in 1927. Wisents partly interbred with

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison''; : ''bison''), commonly known as the American buffalo, or simply buffalo (not to be confused with Bubalina, true buffalo), is a species of bison that is endemic species, endemic (or native) to North America. ...

were reintroduced several decades later.

Gallery

File:RitsaMounts.jpg, Lake Ritsa. File:Массив Ачешбок, Адыгея, Acheshbok, Adygea, Caucasus.jpg, Acheshbok massif. File:Мистический каньон реки Ходзь в тумане, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Khodz river headwaters. File:Рассвет в долине реки Ходзь, туман, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Early dawn in Khodz river canyon. File:Bolshoy Tkhach, Куэсты Тхач в облаках, вид с горы Асбестная, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Tkhach mountain in clouds. File:Acheshbok, Куэсты Ачешбок в облаках, вид с подножья горы Асбестная, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Acheshbok mountain in clouds. File:Acheshbok, Южные отроги горы Ачешбок на закате, драматичные погодные условия, горы Западного Кавказа.jpg, Southern slopes of Acheshbok.

References

External links

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Western Caucasus
a
Natural Heritage Protection FundCaucasian Reserve Website
{{World Heritage Sites in Russia, state=uncollapsed + Mountain ranges of Russia Mountains of Krasnodar Krai Sochi Landforms of the Caucasus Forests of Russia Biosphere reserves of Russia World Heritage Sites in Russia Southern Russia

World Heritage Site

Biosphere Reserve

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links