What is the smallest animal in the Crimea. Animals of Crimea are inhabitants of forests. Crimean red deer

The wildlife of the Crimea has been studied no less carefully than the flora.

The connection between the uniqueness of the geographical location of the Crimea and the originality of the fauna of the peninsula is no less obvious than for the flora, although the animals are more dynamic. In addition to the species characteristic of the nearby southern regions of Ukraine, we everywhere meet animals of the Mediterranean range on the peninsula. Many species or subspecies of animals are found, except for the Crimea, only in the Caucasus, the Balkans, the islands of the Aegean Sea or in Asia Minor, confirming the hypothesis of the existence of Pontida.

The hunting territories of some animals are measured in many kilometers, the animals are able to make long migrations, nevertheless, the fauna of the Crimea has many endemic species and subspecies. Finally, the uniqueness of the Crimean natural communities is confirmed by the "depletion" of the fauna - the absence of many species that are very common in neighboring regions.

All of the above is indisputable proof of the special principles and ways of developing the natural community on the Crimean Peninsula.

The data of paleontology, the science of fossil organisms, show us that in ancient times Crimea was inhabited by such heat-loving animals as giraffes and ostriches. Then, along with glaciers, they were replaced by northern species, for example, arctic fox and reindeer. Even 10-12 thousand years ago, the Crimean fauna was composed of an amazing conglomerate of species from completely different spaces and times.

Alas, you have to pay the highest price for uniqueness. When unfavorable conditions arise, animals have nowhere to migrate in a relatively small area of ​​the peninsula, so they have adapted to a unique habitat.

Animals are divided into invertebrates and chordates. The former are very primitive, the latter are perfect. Primitiveness is a very relative concept. The evolution of invertebrate ancestors did not end after the birth of vertebrate descendants. Many types of microorganisms appeared much later than the relatively young species of primates.

Coelenterates are often cited as a striking example of the primitiveness of our evolutionary ancestors. Let's check if this is so, using the example of jellyfish - the most accessible representatives of this class to our eyes.

Jellyfish lead two lives, and the transmigration of souls is a constant practice for them. In one of their lives, they are a sedentary form - polyps attached to a solid substrate, close relatives of the builders of coral islands. Like all homebodies, polyps are not capable of frenzy of passion and multiply by budding. Confirming the eternity of the conflict of "fathers and children", the budding descendants of polyps are born in the form of gelatinous formations well known to us. Experts call these forms "sexual". The gelatinous body of jellyfish is shaped like a bell or an umbrella; squeezing it, the animal shows us the oldest example of a jet engine and moves in space, however, somewhat slower than spaceships. At rest, jellyfish move at the behest of waves and currents. Along the edge of the body, jellyfish are armed with tentacles with stinging cells that dig into the skin of the victim and paralyze it. Paralysis does not threaten a person, but a meeting with some oceanic species of jellyfish can result in a serious burn. The largest jellyfish reach 2.3 m in diameter.

Zoopsychologists who have studied the intellectual abilities of octopuses have come to the conclusion that their level is very high. This statement seems to be in some contradiction with the statement about the "primitiveness" of another class of invertebrates - mollusks. Unfortunately, neither squids nor octopuses are found in the reservoirs washing Crimea, but there is an abundance of their evolutionary relatives. On land and in fresh water there are quite a lot of snails, slugs, bivalve shells, and among the mollusks of the Azov and Black Seas, zoologists distinguish more than 200 species.

Mollusk means "soft-bodied" in Latin. Quite often, molluscs hide their softness in a strong shell or in a bivalve shell. Undoubtedly, these are "good", "useful" animals. First of all, they produce pearls for people. All bivalves secrete a special secret, a substance that turns into mother-of-pearl when solidified. Translated from German, "mother of pearl" means "mother of pearls." If a foreign object gets into the body of pearl mollusks, then, being enveloped in mother-of-pearl, it can become a pearl. Unfortunately, pearl mussels do this laudable activity mainly in tropical waters.

Many mollusks are attached to underwater rocks with strong thin threads, the so-called byssus. This substance is a frozen secret of a special byssus gland. In ancient times, linen was made from the byssus of the mollusk - a strong, somewhat harsh fabric similar to silk.

From the point of view of many people, a very commendable property of mollusks is their edibility. Mollusks do not eat people, but they need to eat something. This desire is not encouraged in any way. Mankind has come up with more traps for hunting slugs than for catching tigers.

It is absolutely impossible to call crustaceans primitive. As for their "usefulness", in terms of culinary properties, many of them are in no way inferior to shellfish, especially when it comes to ten-legged crayfish, which include lobsters, lobsters, our freshwater crayfish, crabs and shrimp. These "useful" animals occasionally make a very pleasant change in the everyday life of beer lovers.

There are 11 thousand species of centipedes on Earth. "Legs", or rather segments, these animals really have a lot: from 11 to 177, but, despite the abundance of "limbs", these animals are often very slow. The most common centipedes in the Crimea are nodding-dark brown sluggish animals hiding under stones, deadwood or bark. Their only defense is the ability to hide and a rather pungent smell.

The centipede found in the Crimea also belongs to the centipede class. This predator hides during the day in approximately the same places where the nods are, and is active only at night. Scolopendra is equipped with a powerful jaw apparatus and is poisonous. The bite of the Crimean centipede is quite painful, but absolutely harmless.

Representatives of the order of arthropods of the arachnid class - phalanxes, or salpugs, also bite very painfully. About 600 species of these arthropods live in deserts or semi-deserts. The largest phalanx, moreover, the largest representative of the class of arachnids in Ukraine - the common phalanx reaches a length of 5 cm. There are also many legends about the poisonousness of the phalanges, but we are unlikely to be able to prove their failure on ourselves, since the animal is so rare that listed in the Red Book.

Scorpions belong to the class of arachnids. The bite of a scorpion is very painful (it injects poison through hollow formations at the end of the tail). However, it is less and less possible to meet a scorpion in the Crimea, and not at all because he is very prone to suicide, hitting himself with a sting, but because many of us believe all sorts of fairy tales and fables and rush to trample on a dangerous animal, forgetting that no one is given the right to destroy the harmony of nature. Even if we are talking about ticks, which are really the most unpleasant for us, people, representatives of the arachnid class.

However, according to some zoologists, mites do not belong to arachnids. One way or another, this does not make them any less - 3 thousand species are allocated only in Ukraine. Many of them spoil agricultural products, others do not directly touch people, and still others have not come up with anything better than to feed on our blood. In the Far East, there are types of ticks that carry pathogens of encephalitis. In Crimea, too, especially in spring, there are similar "aggressors", so after a walk through a mountain forest or a spring yayla, inspect your loved ones and "look around" yourself. Ticks do not tolerate heat well and are most active in spring and autumn.

We will complete the story about invertebrates in the class of insects. This is the most numerous class of the animal kingdom, numbering more than 800 thousand species according to the most conservative estimates. At least 12-15 thousand species of these most biologically prosperous animals live in the Crimea.

Insects are found everywhere on the peninsula: on desert salt marshes, rocks, in reservoirs and on their banks, even in old apartments. Nevertheless, only a small part of what is observed by entomologists falls into our field of vision. Zhukov, for example, entomologists in the Crimea have described at least 4,000 species, and a person far from biology is unlikely to be able to distinguish more than 100, or even 10 species. However, it seems to many that it is quite enough to get acquainted with only one of the beetles, who came to visit us from Colorado.

The most noticeable insects are butterflies, however, without special knowledge, skills and equipment, a tiny part of more than 2000 species of Crimean butterflies appears to our eyes, since the main number of these insects has a modest camouflage color or nocturnal activity.

Due to their large numbers and varied diet, insects play an extremely important role in natural communities. Only their tireless activity maintains a magnificent variety of vegetation in various landscapes, without these little workers there would not be many vegetable, fruit and field crops. But even the most unpleasant squad of insects for us - Diptera - all these flies, mosquitoes, mosquitoes, horseflies and gadflies cannot be considered "bad".

It is very unpleasant when a mosquito bite itches. It is unusually pitiful for a deer tormented by the larvae of the gadfly, but as soon as some kind of insect disappears, any kind of bird or fish that feeds on them or their larvae can immediately disappear, and some fellow Colorado potato beetle, which has received the opportunity to reproduce freely in the absence of predators, will turn out to be much more unpleasant for us and our household than the itch from a mosquito bite mentioned above. Man constantly upsets the balance of nature, creates the prerequisites for the excessive development of certain species by his activity, for example, by plowing the steppe, and then, instead of trying to restore the balance, violates it even more.

The richest species composition of insects (entomofauna) in Crimea is observed on the southern coast, especially in its eastern part. Almost 75% of Crimean insect species and most typical Mediterranean species are found here. Many Mediterranean species live in mountain forests, in the foothill forest-steppe and on the flat peaks of Yayla. Most of the endemic species are distributed in all these zones. Due to plowing, many insect species of the Crimean steppe have survived only in point habitats with untouched areas of steppe vegetation. Of the 173 species of insects listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, 104 live in the Crimea.

Fish already belong to a higher evolutionary stage, to vertebrate animals. That is, they, like you and me, the skeleton is inside the body, and not outside. In fish, evolution has introduced into practice the construction of a skeleton from bone, although the "worst" representatives of this class (sharks) and the "best" (sturgeons) appeared on Earth before the bone was invented by Nature, and therefore are forced to make do with cartilage.

46 species of fish live in the fresh waters of Crimea, but only 14 of them are aboriginal, originally Crimean inhabitants. The remaining 32 species were acclimatized in one way or another. Only after the commissioning of the North Crimean Canal, crucian carp, carp, perch, pike perch (like a city), silver carp, grass carp and pike became common for fishermen. There are about 200 species of fish in the Black and Azov Seas. Many of them live in them permanently, others visit it "in transit", migrating through the Bosphorus. Some species make such migrations annually, others - every few years, others, such as swordfish, have been seen in isolated cases.

Not all fish species can make such journeys, as the relatively low salt concentration in the Black Sea is detrimental to most Mediterranean species adapted to saltier water. The same can be said about the migrations of various species from the Black Sea to the fresher Sea of ​​Azov or in the opposite direction.

Now the reader and I will have to leave the abyss of waters, as amphibians, otherwise called amphibians, did about 225 million years ago. For such a long time, it would seem that one can adapt to life on land, but amphibians have not completely overcome some of the habits of their dark evolutionary past: they breed only in water in order to hatch from eggs and serve a certain period of their life as tadpoles. Amphibians are divided into tailed (tritons) and tailless (toads, frogs). Both are represented on the territory of Crimea by six species, the most common of which are the lake frog and the green toad, and the toad is found even in semi-desert areas, hiding in deep burrows during the day, and at night and after rains going out to hunt for insects. Tree frog (tree frog) and crested newt are common in the mountain-forest part of the Crimea, and the red-bellied toad and common spadefoot can be found only in the plains.

Many of us have an inadequate attitude towards amphibians, and there are reasons for this attitude. First, amphibians vaguely resemble reptiles, many of which are poisonous. Secondly, the skin of many types of toads is poisonous, and if you eat a toad raw, you can get poisoned, which sometimes happens with small predators and dogs. It is entirely possible that the fear of poisonous animals, like other instincts, accumulates in the memory of generations and is transmitted genetically. On the other hand, a reasonable person must overcome this fear, just as we overcome the fear of darkness in childhood. Many Romanesque peoples have overcome this fear and eat frog legs with great pleasure, however, by no means eating raw toads.

Template arguments about the "usefulness" of amphibians that eat "bad" insects, frankly, set the teeth on edge with their senselessness. "Good" insects are also eaten with great pleasure by amphibians, because they do not distinguish food in this way.

The only poisonous of the 14 species of Crimean reptiles, the steppe viper, is found in the plains and foothills of the peninsula so rarely that it is included in the Red Book. "Reliable" statements about the toxicity of other species living on the peninsula are actually prejudices, alas, much more tenacious than the species included in this "black list", primarily the yellow-bellied snake, the four-banded snake and the leopard snake. In addition to the listed snakes, two species of snakes and copperfish live in the Crimea. The only species of turtles, the marsh turtle, inhabits mainly mountain reservoirs, but sometimes descends along the riverbeds quite far into the steppe regions. Of the six species of lizards, the Crimean, nimble and rock lizards are quite numerous.

Birds, or, as experts say, "avifauna" of the Crimea, number more than 300 species. Almost 65% of them nest on the peninsula, 5% (17 species) winter here, the remaining 30% are migratory.

The largest birds on the peninsula are gray crane, demoiselle crane, bustard, little bustard, swans, geese and large predators: short-toed eagle, steppe eagle, osprey, dwarf eagle, imperial eagle, white-tailed eagle, golden eagle, vulture, black vulture, griffon vulture , saker falcon, peregrine falcon and eagle owl. Sometimes pelicans are met in the Crimea. Almost all large birds are rare. The main number of species have chosen mountainous areas as their habitat, especially many birds on the plateau of the Main Ridge and on the borders of the plateau and the forest. The avifauna is very rich in mixed floodplain forests of river valleys. In the steppe part of the Crimea, waders, four species of larks, quails and such rare species as bustards and bustards that remain for wintering in warm years are quite common.

Crimea is located on the routes of traditional bird migration. Huge flocks of semi-aquatic and aquatic species accumulate in the shallow waters of the Sivash and Karkinitsky Bay during migration and wintering. On the peninsula expanse for hunters. Divers feed and nest on the shores of the Black and Azov Seas, ducks (mallards, wigeons, pintails, teals), wild geese, woodcocks, quails, gray partridge and wild pigeons wait out the winter in secluded places. However, many game birds have adapted to spend the winter in close proximity to crowded city beaches, where the ban on hunting is complemented by an abundance of food.

In many areas, nesting and migration of birds are protected by law, among them are several islands of Sivash, the protected tract "Mount Opuk" and the islands of Elken-Kaya in the south of the Kerch Peninsula.

In the northern part of the Kerch Peninsula there is a state ornithological reserve "Astaninskiye plavni" ("Oysulskaya plavni"). The eastern shores of the Aktash lake-estuary are thickets of reeds, they are called floodplains. Reliable shelter and abundance of food attract numerous flocks of migratory and nesting birds in the Crimea.

But the most "main" ornithological reserve, which has a well-deserved international recognition, is the Lebyazhy Islands - a branch of the Crimean State Reserve. Six islands of the tract are located near the northwestern shores of the plain Crimea. They stretched for about 8 km along the coast of the Karkinitsky Gulf. The largest island is about 3.5 km long and up to 350 meters wide. The islands are about 3.5 km away from the coast. Shallow waters, an abundance of plant and animal food in the water and on land, combined with a protected regime, attract a lot of waterfowl to the Lebyazhy Islands. A large population of mute swan nests here. In late autumn, northern whooper swans gather on the islands for wintering. Various species of ducks, waders, white and gray herons, gulls, cormorants nest on the islands, more than 25 species in total.

Hunting requires excitement, scientific birdwatching requires serious professional skills, but any of us can get up before dawn, walk through the park or climb into the nearest forest to hear the discordant choir of songbirds at dawn, because the bird population is only forest parks and parks settlements of the Crimea has more than 20 species.

More than 60 species of mammals live in Crimea. The largest representatives of the Crimean fauna are ungulates, four species of which have adapted to the mountain forests of the peninsula. The Crimean red deer, preserved in the protected areas, is a local (aboriginal) species, the other two species of artiodactyls appeared thanks to the efforts of people. Lan in the 70s 20th century imported from the Askania-Nova Reserve, but a large increase in livestock has not yet been observed. But the wild boar, which appeared in the mid-50s, has now settled throughout the forest zone, and licensed shooting is allowed for it. Attempts to acclimatize bison and mountain sheep-mouflon in the Crimea ended in failure: the bison, causing harm to vegetation unadapted to the growth of its livestock, was deprived of the Crimean "registration" in 1980, and the mouflon reproduces rather poorly.

Of the predatory animals of the peninsula, the fox and weasel are quite numerous. Weasel is the smallest predator of the Crimea, the fox, together with the forest dweller badger, are the largest. The common fox is more common in the steppe areas, the Crimean subspecies is more typical for the mountain-forest part of the peninsula. The marten lives in the foothills of the Crimea, and the raccoon dog settled along the North Crimean Canal. Predators eat either purely animal food, like the ferret and weasel, or have a mixed diet, as is observed in the marten, fox, badger, and raccoon dog. There used to be quite a lot of wolves in Crimea, but the last animals disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century.

Life without wolves for hares, of course, seems insipid, but a hare
feels good in the Crimea and can be found everywhere, except perhaps the central city blocks. A significant increase in the rabbit acclimatized in the steppe regions has not yet been observed, but the squirrel, which settled in 1940 on the territory of the Crimean Natural Reserve, settled throughout the peninsula, including parks and green areas of cities.

Four representatives of marine mammals are found in the Black and Azov Seas: the monk seal and three species of dolphins. In the natural environment, dolphins are rarely seen, but at present it is easy to meet them in the dolphinariums of Sevastopol, Yalta, Evpatoria and Karadag, where bottlenose dolphins are usually kept. Dolphins are happy to jump through hoops, play with a ball, perform various commands of trainers - in a word, they demonstrate their remarkable abilities to the public, and therefore a visit to the dolphinarium is always very spectacular and informative.

The flora of Crimea is very rich and diverse, it includes more than 2.5 thousand plant species. The species composition of the Crimean vegetation impresses not only with its abundance, but also with its qualitative composition. Common to the south of Ukraine, there are no more than a third of the steppe and common for mountains and foothills plants of the temperate climatic zone of Europe, but more than 50% of the vegetation species are of Mediterranean origin and are representatives of the Mediterranean area.

In addition, there are at least 10% of the so-called endemic plants, that is, those that can be found only in one place on the planet - on the Crimean Peninsula. Such an abundance of endemics allows us to consider the nature of the Crimea as unique. High juniper, folded snowdrop, small-fruited strawberry growing in the mountainous part of the peninsula are typical of the Tertiary period, which was almost two million years ago. But, for example, wintergreen taiga and stone fruit are not at all characteristic of southern latitudes, but rather characteristic of the taiga and northern broad-leaved forests. These are relic plants of the Ice Age, from which they remained in the southern latitudes of Crimea due to its unique geographical position.

If someday scientists still invent a time machine, then we will see how Crimea looked 10-12,000 years ago. Judging by the findings of paleozoologists, it resembled Noah's Ark.

Before the Ice Age, ostriches and giraffes lived in Crimea. Arctic foxes and reindeer came here along with the glacier. Skeletons of foxes, horses, cave bears, rhinos and mammoths are found in the caves (these antiquities are preserved by constant temperature and humidity, and the clay acts as a conservator). This year, researchers from the Chernivtsi National University discovered fly larvae in the Emine-Bair-Khosar cave that flew 40,000 years ago and were no different from modern ones.

The fauna of the Crimea is determined by the fact that we live on the peninsula. Many species and subspecies are found, except for the Crimea, only in the Caucasus, the Balkans, the islands of the Aegean Sea or in Asia Minor. Most of all in the Crimea there are various insects (from 12 to 15,000 species), and, unfortunately, there are not so many mammals, they are rarely found in mountain forests or in the steppe. Due to the fact that the Crimea is separated from the mainland, there are also endemic animals that do not live anywhere else on the planet.
In the southwestern Crimea, there are especially many Mediterranean species of insects: ascalafs, praying mantises, dybki, ribbonworms.

In the mountain forests you can see very beautiful beetles: barbel, stag beetle, shiny ground beetles. Of course, only a small part of what a specialist entomologist sees falls into the field of view of an ordinary observer. So, in the Crimea there are the most beautiful butterflies: swallowtail, gift, various types of hawks, sash. But if the podaliria (it is also called a sailboat), white, large, with black stripes and two luxurious “tails”, can be seen at the height of summer on any decent flower bed, then hawk moths fly in the evening, and some of them (for example, a dead head, with a pattern on the back resembling a skull) are rare, and not everyone can boast of having seen one.

The following are listed in the Red Book: the striped empusa praying mantis, the Crimean granular ground beetle, the alpine barbel, the polyxena butterfly, the oleander hawk moth and other species.

Many useful and rare insects die from pesticides that are used in fields and gardens; stag beetles, for example, can only live in oak forests, so the area of ​​oak forests directly affects their numbers. There are cases when people, seeing a dark blue, iridescent ground beetle and being frightened, kill it, instead of showing this rare and completely harmless insect to their children, admire and go their own way, leaving the ground beetle to go on its own.

There are not many dangerous poisonous insects in the Crimea and, most likely, you will not meet them. Among the numerous arachnids are the Crimean scorpion, tarantula and karakurt spiders. They live in the steppes, hiding from the heat in round minks. In forests and parks, ixodid ticks can be found (of which 2 species are the causative agents of tick-borne encephalitis).

Due to the dryness of the climate, Crimea is poor in amphibians. The crested newt is found in mountain reservoirs (some keep it in aquariums, because it can live in captivity). The lake frog is very numerous; tree frogs are also found, with suckers on their legs that help them stay on the tree. All amphibians are useful.

Often you can see small multi-colored lizards on stones heated by the sun. In Crimea, there are 6 species of them: quick, Crimean, rocky, colorful foot-and-mouth disease, yellow-bellied, Crimean gecko.

Yellowbell is sometimes confused with a snake, but this yellow legless lizard only looks like a snake. In place of her legs, she has longitudinal folds, her eyes have eyelids, but there are no teeth. Yellow-bellied insectivorous, listed in the Red Book. Lives both in mountainous (south coast) regions and in the steppe. In addition to the Crimea, it is not found anywhere else in Ukraine.

There are practically no snakes in the Crimea, except for snakes (ordinary and water). Both types of snakes (four-striped and leopard) are listed in the Red Book; non-poisonous. They live mainly on the slopes of mountains, in the rocks. The only venomous snake on the peninsula is the steppe viper, but it is rare, bites are not fatal. I recently came across a letter from a reader in a newspaper. The reader asked what to do if a gray viper settled on his plot. It is impossible to kill, but if it stings? The editors responded by telling him about the benefits of frogs and snakes in protecting the garden from mice and insects. It is not known whether he was satisfied with this answer. I wonder what will happen if everyone starts some small snake instead of a cat on the site so that it catches mice? How to breed pythons in India. Of all the snakes in the Crimea, you can see the snake more often than others, but when you meet, he immediately tries to hide.

Up to 40% of all birds of the peninsula nest. The most numerous is the finch, of the pigeons - the wood dove and the turtledove, the European robin, the tawny owl, the whitethroats, the song and black thrushes, the crossbill, the forest pipit, the siskin, the black-headed jay, and the great spotted woodpecker. In spring, sometimes you can hear how an invisible oriole sings in the crown of tall trees. In the steppe regions, larks and hoopoes - "steppe parrots" - are common. These rather large reddish birds with black stripes along the body have high tufts on their heads, which they deftly open and fold like a fan. It is difficult to notice a hoopoe in reddish dust or among dry steppe grasses, even if it sits almost under your feet. Even 100 years ago, peacocks lived in the Crimean courtyards along with turkeys and chickens. Now they are trying to artificially breed quails, pheasants and ostriches.

There are several types of owls in the Crimea: from the smallest - splyushka - to a large owl. Other predators are the imperial eagle, buzzard; scavengers - vulture, vulture and vulture.
The field pipit, common wheatear, linnet, field lark, and keklik nest on the yayla. In the steppe there are 4 species of larks, an oystercatcher, and very rarely a bustard.

On the coastal rocks - crested cormorant, diver, ruddy shelduck, shelducks, gulls, petrel. About 30 species of birds winter in Crimea: black-throated diver, shelduck, diving duck, great grebe, great cormorant, swans, etc. Many species are listed in the Red Book, the reasons for their disappearance are not clear: for example, black stork, steppe eagle. A very interesting place, from the point of view of an ornithologist, is on (the north-west of the peninsula, the coast of the Karkinitsky Gulf). Many species of birds nest and winter in this reserve (there are even pelicans on the migration in the Crimea). There are many birds in the Karadag nature reserve. Tourists from the boat are shown black crested cormorants, because they cannot be disturbed.

Of course, everyone is interested: are there many mammals in the Crimea? Who can you meet in the forest, walking along the path? Most likely, no one, because. diurnal animals are very cautious and will probably try to avoid meeting a person. And yet the Crimean forests are inhabited. Brown hares, rabbits, martens, foxes, badgers, raccoon dogs, squirrels, weasels, ferrets live here. I must say that of all the animals, martens and weasels are the most “crazy”. If you have ever been bitten by a wild marten, which for some reason the young naturalists were going to keep in a living corner, you know how fearless and determined the martens are. If she clung to someone, she holds a stranglehold. The same can be said about a small but brave weasel, which can single-handedly gnaw through the throat of a whole chicken coop in the heat of the hunt and crawl through any gap.
The winter of 2006 was very cold, and about 35 wolves came across the ice from the Kherson region to the Crimean peninsula (although there are no wolves in Crimea, they were killed before the war. Most likely, these newcomers will also be destroyed). Sometimes moose enter the Crimean forests.

Of the insectivores, hedgehogs and 5 species of shrews live in the Crimea. Hedgehogs can sometimes be seen in the evenings in the city, somewhere in a park or on a quiet street where there are no cars. It is almost impossible to see a shrew: they are very small, no larger than a mouse, and almost never appear on the surface of the earth. It is easier to meet one of the rodents: gopher, hamster, jerboa or mouse.

Bats live in caves and grottoes; there are about 18 species of them in the Crimea, but half of them are listed in the Red Book. Bats really don't like to be disturbed while on vacation. Despite the fact that it is not so easy to catch and even see a bat resting under the arch of the cave, they are not enthusiastic about visitors. For example, in the grotto, where tourists are always brought during an excursion to the New World, you can only hear how bats “talk” somewhere high in the darkness, as if they are setting up a walkie-talkie. In addition, a little droppings may fall on you, but you will not see the mice themselves. All these bats, bats, long-winged and horseshoe bats are extremely useful, nocturnal and secretive animals. Naturally, not vampires; feed on insects.

The largest animals in the Crimea are artiodactyls: red deer (up to 700 individuals) and roe deer (up to 2,000 individuals), wild boar, bison, Corsican mouflon, fallow deer.

Wild boars were brought to the Crimea in 1949 from the Ussuri region, and they took root here.

Of the 57 species of Crimean mammals, 17 are classified as extremely rare animals. No one else will, unfortunately, be able to see monk seals in the Crimea; they were finally exterminated, although this species was included in the Red Books of the IUCN, the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR. On the Black Sea coast of Crimea, the monk seal was encountered at the beginning of the 20th century. In order to restore this species, back in Soviet times it was proposed to start re-acclimatization of seals on, but it is hardly possible to imagine this, because these cautious animals could not stand the presence of a person, and there are more people on Tarkhankut every year. Even if seals survived in the Crimea, they would not like to live next to vacationers and scuba divers. Too bad they don't exist anymore...

In the Black Sea, life boils at a depth of up to 200 meters - where there is light, air and no hydrogen sulfide. Only bacteria that feed on hydrogen sulfide can live in the depths. But this does not mean that there is nothing and no one to look at in the Black Sea. Two species of dolphins live here - the common dolphin and the bottlenose dolphin. Off the coast of Karadag, Sudak, Balaklava, they can sometimes be seen from a boat or even from the beach. Here they are, jumping out of the water, their silvery backs glittering in the sun! Where the fish, there and. They really accompany the boats, and then they can be seen especially well. Bottlenose dolphins perform in many dolphinariums. Previously, there was a large military dolphinarium in Balaklava, where dolphins were trained according to special programs for work during hostilities. The phrase “hunting for dolphins” sounds wild. However, dolphin fishing in the Black Sea was banned only in 1966. A new method of treating children, dolphin therapy, is beginning to develop in Crimea. Children with slow development, suffering from cerebral palsy, communicate with dolphins with pleasure, talk with them, and dolphins have a positive effect on the nervous system of sick children.

As you know, a dolphin is a mammal, not a fish. But many species of fish also live in the Black Sea. Up to 200 species of fish are found in the Black and Azov Seas, and some live in these seas permanently, while others enter by migrating through the Bosphorus. The Black Sea is fresher than the Mediterranean, so we do not have Mediterranean species. Fish of the Black Sea: red mullet (sultanka), gobies, mullet, stingrays (sea fox, sea stingray cat), flat fish - kalkan, sole, river flounder (glossa). The oldest fish of the Black Sea are sturgeons. They can hunt at all depths, but due to poaching, there are now few of them. Off the coast of the Caucasus, the Black Sea sturgeon spawns in the Don, Kuban, and Rioni.

In the 1980s, there was a huge amount of anchovies and sprats in the Black Sea, but uncontrolled fishing, the invasion of the comb jelly Mnemiopsis led to the fact that both anchovies and sprats ended. Fortunately, the population is now recovering, and where there is anchovy, there are also predatory pelagic fish (i.e. living in the upper layers of the sea) - for example, horse mackerel. Large (and rare) predators of the Black Sea are bluefish, bonito. Mackerel and tuna no longer enter the waters of the Black Sea, for environmental reasons. They say that there were cases when a hammerhead shark swordfish came from the Sea of ​​​​Marmara to the Black Sea, but there are no sharks in Crimea, except for the katran (it is not dangerous, and its meat is even served in restaurants). In shallow water, the katran never enters.

About 36 species of fish are found in the fresh waters of the Crimea. Most of them are acclimatized, which took root in the Crimea after the opening of the North Crimean Canal: crucian carp, carp, perch, pike perch, silver carp, pike. Rainbow trout is found in the Auzun-Uzen River (it can only live in very clean running water). The American rainbow trout is grown in a trout farm on the Alma River, and yet it is a rare fish in the Crimea.

It is impossible to tell here about all the variety of forest, steppe, marine animals of the Crimea. If you manage to see any of them - watch, rejoice and take care, as far as you can, that there are no fewer animals in the Crimea.

Enjoy your walks in the Crimea!

Despite the relatively small area of ​​​​the territory, the Crimean peninsula is diverse. Steppes coexist with wet forests and mountains. Such are favorable for the prosperity of the fauna. Many endemics live in the Crimea, and cosmopolitan animals have also perfectly acclimatized.

Features of the Crimean fauna

In the north of the peninsula are endless. Crimean mountains stretch from north to east. The southern territories lie in the subtropical zone, a mild climate prevails here. The east is represented by small capes and bays. To the west is a flat coastline. Numerous rivers are calm, in the summer heat some of them dry up completely. The species composition of animals is poorer than in neighboring mainland lands. Also in the Crimea there are many endemic species. This is due to the isolation of the peninsula.

The Crimean Mountains and the Black Sea coast belong to the Mediterranean zoogeographical region and are distinguished by the absence of many common forest species, and the presence of Balkan, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and endemic species. The mountain-forest fauna is especially rich on the northern slopes of Yayla, in the forests of the Crimean Nature Reserve, which is home to the Crimean deer (endemic subspecies), Crimean chamois, pine marten, fox, stone marten, mole, and other species.

The composition includes hawks, owls, jays, petroiki, mountain buntings, blackbirds, coinage and several Mediterranean species. There are also several species. Some animals such as mouflon, squirrel, etc. - acclimatized in the protected area of ​​Crimea. The endemic Crimean gecko, Crimean lizard and rock lizard live on the southern coast. Characteristic representatives are the cicada, the praying mantis, the centipede, the Crimean scorpion and the Crimean black beetle. Many types of Mediterranean are also common. Among insects, representatives of the order Diptera dominate. The original flora and fauna of Crimea is best preserved in the protected areas of the peninsula.

Below are photos and a brief description of some representatives of the animal world of Crimea.

mountain fox

A representative of the Canine family lives in,. On the territory of the peninsula, the fox is distributed evenly. The body of the fox reaches 90 cm in length, and the tail - 50 cm. The mass ranges from 2 to 14 kg. They settle in secluded places: rock crevices, windfalls, tree hollows, burrows of other animals. The diet of animals includes birds and fruits of trees. The activity of foxes directly depends on the food supply. The offspring appears in early May, and closer to autumn, the young are already independently obtaining food. Currently fox hunting is allowed, which has negative consequences. Due to the decline in the population of these, the number of rodents is growing.

Black Sea garfish

The fish lives in the warm waters of the Black and Azov Seas. She has a thin body and an elongated jaw. The color is greenish, there is a dark stripe on the back. An adult individual weighs about 500 g on average. The body length varies from 50 to 75 cm. The garfish feeds on sprat, anchovy and shrimp. He pursues his prey in jerks, developing high speed. These fish are not sedentary and are constantly on the move. The taste of the garfish resembles saury, but many are scared off by the greenish color of its bones. Despite this, the fish is not poisonous.

white marten

Predatory mammal that prefers to settle in broad-leaved forests, caves, crevices and ravines. Often marten can be found in forest parks and abandoned houses. The body length is 40-59 cm, and the weight is 1-2 kg. The marten feeds on small rodents, grass, tree bark, mushrooms and mosses. Animals often destroy bird nests. The marten lives in hollows, jumps well from tree to tree and leads. Puppies are born in April, and a few months later they go hunting with their mother. The natural enemies are the wolf, fox, lynx, owl and eagle.

Teleut squirrel

Initially, a small rodent lived in the forests of Altai, but in the thirties of the last century it was brought to the Crimea. Here the squirrel perfectly acclimatized. The Teleutka differs from other subspecies of the common squirrel in its large size: the body length without a tail is 28 cm, the weight often exceeds 300 g. For habitat prefers mixed forests and parks. The squirrel can travel 3 m at a time by jumping from tree to tree. Hollows serve as a refuge for animals, which they insulate with the help of dry foliage, moss, and grass. In urban conditions, squirrels settle in birdhouses. The diet is quite varied and includes: nuts, pine tree seeds, mushrooms, berries and fruits. In the warm season, squirrels are heavily stocked with food for the winter. Natural enemies are foxes, martens, owls, owls and hawks.

steppe viper

The snake is listed in the Red Book as a vulnerable species. The reptile lives in the plain and mountain steppes, along the banks of reservoirs, in alpine meadows and in clay ravines. The body is 50 cm long, females are larger than males. The sharp muzzle of the snake stretches forward. The steppe viper has a brown skin color, a zigzag pattern runs along the back. In search of food, the reptile often climbs onto the branches of trees and shrubs, in addition to this, the viper swims well. The food source is insects, lizards, chicks, rodents and frogs. Viper venom poses a danger to children and people with health problems. The snake never attacks first, so all biting incidents occur due to human negligence. The natural enemies of the steppe viper are badgers, ferrets, hedgehogs, storks, owls and eagles.

Crimean deer

These animals are endemic to the peninsula. In size, they differ little from other types of deer. The height of the male at the withers is 1.3-1.6 m, weight reaches 260 kg. The horns of young males resemble matches; in adults, processes grow. Deer prefer light forests alternating with meadows and overgrown burnt areas. They eat food of plant origin: foliage, buds, young shoots of trees. In summer, animals add mushrooms, berries and moss to the diet. Cereal crops play an important role in the life of these. With the onset of winter, deer migrate towards the southern coast. Large animals have practically no natural enemies.

griffon vulture

A bird of prey that belongs to the hawk family, living on the southern coast of the peninsula. The body length of the vulture is 110 cm, and the wingspan is 250 cm. The head of adults is covered with white fluff, the rest of the plumage is colored brown. Birds build their nests in hard-to-reach rock crevices. The female lays a single egg at the end of winter. Both partners participate in incubation. The chick flies out of the nest at the age of three months. Vultures are scavengers, the basis of their diet is the corpses of animals. They do not consume skin and tendons, but primarily feed on liver. The bird does not attack living animals and can starve for a long time. After searching for food, the vultures return to the nest to rest. Crows are natural enemies and can destroy eggs and chicks. Vultures are considered a rare species; about 130 pairs nest on the peninsula. To date, the birds are under the protection of two nature reserves in the Crimea.

The fauna of the peninsula very varied. We already know that Crimea is divided into steppe and mountain. And also the peninsula is washed by the Black Sea. In the sea depths of this peninsula, various types of marine life live.

The steppe peninsula is characterized by a wide distribution of various rodent species. These include various types of hamsters and ground squirrels, as well as mice. These inhabitants cause great harm to grain crops. The enemies of these inhabitants are the fox, ferret and weasel, which also live in the steppe zone. The common hare is also found here.

The steppe Crimea is very densely populated with birds, especially a lot of waterfowl, this is due to the presence of abundant food in this area. There is a bird sanctuary, which is of international importance, in the area of ​​Karkinitsky Bay. In total, about 230 species of birds live here or about 85 species nest. There are also various types of swans and herons. Several species of cranes live in the steppes.

Tit photo:alona779

Among the birds of prey, the steppe eagle is very rare, which destroys a huge number of rodents. Starlings, titmouses, finches, goldfinches settle in the forests.

Of the reptiles in the steppe zone, there is a steppe viper, which is poisonous. Of the lizards, there is a yellow-bellied, Crimean lizard.

Steppe viper photo: Giacomo Radi

In the mountainous Crimea, the animal world is much more diverse than in the steppe. However, many years of human activity has led to the fact that many animal species have disappeared forever.

The permanent inhabitants of the Crimean forests are deer and roe deer, wild boar and foxes. Of the rodents, there are squirrels and various types of mice. Some subspecies of badgers and martens have also survived.

More than sixty years ago, the last wolf was exterminated. Currently, wolves are not found in the Crimea. Birds include tits, grouse jays, black vultures.

Black vulture photo: sharadagrawal931978

In the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, there are a variety of marine life, including dolphins, which try not to swim up to the shore and keep a decent distance from it. Only sometimes in the distance you can see a flock of swimming dolphins. Jellyfish, which can often be seen near the shore. Touching it can cause discomfort in the form of a burning sensation on the skin.

Various types of mollusks live off the coast of Crimea. Small crabs and seahorses are one of the inhabitants of the sea in the Crimea.

Among the fish here lives herring, flounder, sea bass, gobies, mullet and red mullet.

Every year the number of marine life is decreasing due to human activities.

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