Crimean mountains animal world. Animals of Crimea are forest. Dangerous plants in Crimea
A characteristic feature of the Crimean fauna is its island character. Due to its isolation, the peninsula does not have many biological species characteristic of a temperate climate, but there are some of their own, specific ones.
The fauna of the peninsula is composed of three elements: steppes, foothills and mountains, and, finally, the southern coast. Accordingly, the fauna of all constituent parts of the Crimea is different: the steppe Crimea belongs to the steppe zone of the European-Siberian subregion, and the mountainous one belongs to the Mediterranean. But since the Crimean steppe passes into the region of the foothills, rising gradually, it is impossible to establish a clear boundary between them and sharply dissect their animal world. Only the fauna of the southern coast differs significantly from the fauna of the northern slope of the mountains.
mammals
The fauna of the Crimean steppes is similar to the fauna of the Ukrainian mainland steppes. It does not have a single representative of large mammals.
The latter was killed in 1922 at the northern foot of Chatyr-Dag. And today the largest predatory animal of the peninsula is the fox. Two of its species are known: ordinary steppe and mountain Crimean. The fur of the latter is brighter and fluffier, but it is inferior in size to the steppe.
In total, there are seven species of predatory animals in Crimea. At the end of the last century, it took root here.
The rest of the predators from the weasel family: weasel,
and stone marten.
There are many rodents in the steppe Crimea. They are found, hamsters, gophers and. The steppe and foothills also abound with other species, among which various voles are numerous, from the order of insectivores one can often find a shrew.
In the central part of the mountainous Crimea, at the foot of Babugan, the lands of the Crimean State Reserve and Hunting Economy are located. This is the largest protected area on the peninsula (33,397 ha). The area of the protected hunting economy is divided into two approximately equal parts: protected forests and forest hunting grounds. The farm is closed to tourists and sightseers.
Deer, badgers and other mammals live in the protected forests - 39 species in total. Here they are successfully acclimatized from Corsica, from Altai and from the Far East.
The pride of reserved forests -. This is the largest and most beautiful animal of the Crimean mountains. The number of animals is maintained at a certain level: deer - 1300 - 1500, roe deer - 300, wild boars - 300 - 400, mouflons - 150 - 200 heads.
Thanks to the effective protection of the livestock of these animals in the late 70s - early 80s of the XX century. increased significantly, and in terms of saturation with ungulates per unit area, the Crimean reserve hunting economy turned out to be the most overpopulated in Europe. The resulting sharp discrepancy between the number of ungulates and the plant food base began to adversely affect the renewal of the young forest.
Naturally, there was a need to periodically carry out a planned reduction in the number of reindeer herds through trapping and resettlement. The Crimean deer has already replenished the fauna of many regions of Ukraine.
Birds
There are about 300 species of birds in the Crimea.
In the steppe regions, it is quite rare, but it is found. This large but cautious bird, yellow-brown with black stripes above and white below and along the edges of the wings, has the ability to run quickly, but it does not fly well. The bustard differs from other birds in the absence of the coccygeal gland, which secretes a lubricant that birds use to cover their feathers with their beak to protect them from getting wet. Autumn rain and subsequent frosts shackle these birds with an ice crust, making them absolutely helpless.
Birds of prey can also be found in the steppe. These are, first of all, the steppe eagle, steppe kestrel, red-footed falcon and steppe harrier.
The foothills are inhabited by shrikes, garden bunting, nightjar, scops owl, starling endemic for the Crimea and goldfinch. Three types of nightingales are found here: western, eastern and Persian. The first two species nest on both sides of the mountains, and the Persian nightingale is occasionally found on the northern slopes.
The mountain forests are inhabited by the Crimean and long-tailed tit, woodpecker, redstart, robin, warbler, jay. Above there are mountain buntings. There is no significant difference in the composition of the bird fauna of the mountain peaks and the forests themselves. Moreover, many steppe birds are found on the yayla: wheatear, field lark, bald-headed and others.
The largest bird in Europe nests here - (two adults can freely accommodate in its nest). This bird can be found in the forests of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains (on the Chernaya and Basman mountains, in the Yaman-Dere gorge near Babugan-yayla and in other places).
At 3.5 km from the coast, in the Kerkinitsky Bay, there is a reserve of international importance - the Swan Islands (Sary-Bulat). The group stretches along the coast for 8 km and consists of six islands (the largest of them is 3 km long and up to 350 m wide). Shallow water, an abundance of plant and animal food in the water and on land, combined with a protected regime, attract a lot of birds, mainly waterfowl, to the Swan Islands. 25 species of birds nest here.
The main decoration of the islands is the mute swan. Fishing for it continued here at the end of the 19th century, which led to a sharp reduction in the number of these birds. Measures for the protection of the Lebyazhy Islands have yielded results: since 1955, the number of this species has increased 10 times, and today there are up to 6 thousand snow-white birds here.
Every year in June, large flocks of mute swans come here to molt. At this time, birds cannot fly, and the protected islands become their home. Floating flocks of swans - a beautiful, unforgettable sight! This graceful, snow-white bird is distinguished by a beautifully curved neck and a bright red beak. Mute swans go south for wintering; they nest in the lower reaches of the Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, in the floodplains of the Kuban, in the Volga delta.
In late autumn, northern whooper swans gather on the islands for wintering (they have a straighter neck and a yellow beak). So almost all year round in this reserve you can meet feathered beauties. Whoopers do not nest here either.
Of the other birds on the Swan Islands, various species of ducks, waders, white and gray herons, gulls, and cormorants live. The most numerous livestock is the gull-gull, which is of great benefit to agriculture: it destroys a lot of rodents. The colony of gulls has up to 30 thousand individuals. During the summer season, the gulls of the Swan Islands kill almost 2 million ground squirrels and up to 8 million mice.
In the water area of Sivash, where there are more than 60 islands, a lot of nesting and migratory birds live and stop to rest. Gulls-gulls, gray ducks and shelducks are especially numerous. On the island of China, there is the largest nesting nesting site for terns on the Sivash. Walking around the island can be difficult: at a distance of 1 - 2 meters from each other there are nests of gulls, shelducks and gray ducks have made their dwellings in the weeds nearby.
Crimea is the only place in the CIS where mass nesting has been noted. His appearance is rather gloomy. The plumage is black, dense, the beak is long, yellow, steeply curved downwards, there is a small crest on the head. The sounds made by him are like a hoarse, unpleasant cackle. For a long nose, a cormorant is also called a “long-nosed”, and for predatory habits and “funeral” plumage - a sea raven. It feeds on weedy fish and crustaceans. It is interesting that a wild bird native to the Crimea in China, Japan and Hungary is a bird-producer. Before going out to sea, fishermen take several tamed cormorants into the boat. They put rings around their necks that prevent them from swallowing fish and lower them overboard. When enough fish have accumulated in the cormorant's throat pouch, they drag it into the boat and, holding it upside down, shake out the caught fish.
Inhabitants of rivers and seas
Crimean mountain rivers, such as Salgir, Kacha, Belbek, Kara-Su, and others, are, in essence, streams that are very stormy during heavy rains and become shallow and dry up in summer. Naturally, under these conditions, in the Crimean rivers, both the northern and southern slopes, there are no fish resources. And yet, about 15 species of fish are found in the Crimean rivers.
Trout lives in the sources of the Kara-Su. In addition, local barbel, Crimean chub specimens are found in the Crimean waters.
Rare animals include: swordfish, tuna, monk seal, anglerfish, lobster, blue crab, starfish, hammerhead shark and blue shark.
In the Black and Azov Seas, three species of the dolphin family are known:, and Azovka. The largest dolphin of the Black Sea is the bottlenose dolphin, its average weight is 150 kg, length is from 2.3 to 3 m, it feeds on bottom and bottom fish (flounder, scorpionfish). It can eat up to 30 kg of fish per day. The weight of the white barrel is half that of bottlenose dolphins. The smallest dolphin is Azovka, or porpoise: weight - up to 30 kg, length - up to one and a half meters.
Invertebrates
Of the invertebrates, mollusks are especially characteristic of the Crimea. 69 species of mollusks live here, 29 of which are found only in the Crimea. This large percentage of endemic species of mollusks is a characteristic feature of the Crimean fauna.
An endemic terrestrial mollusk lives near Balaklava and St. George's Monastery - the Krinitsky snail, related to the common garden snail.
Of the arthropods, one can note the freshwater crab living under stones in some rivers of the Crimea. In general, crabs are inhabitants of the seas. This crab is an exception. Freshwater crab is found sporadically in the fresh waters of Western Europe and the Caucasus. This is an animal of the southern countries, and its presence in the Crimea characterizes the general appearance of the Crimean fauna.
From the same class of arthropods, characteristic representatives of the centipede order are found in the Crimea. This is a centipede and a centipede flycatcher. Scolopendra is long, about 10 cm; a centipede of black-greenish color with a bronze tint, with reddish-yellow strong legs and head. Like most centipedes, it lives under rocks. Scolopendra is dangerous for its poisonous (but not fatal) bites, which cause severe inflammation. It is distributed in the Crimea in the foothills and on the southern coast.
The centipede flycatcher is found in the same areas as the centipede. This is a fearful and not only harmless, but even useful nocturnal insect that exterminates house flies. Among centipedes (there are 42 species in the Crimea) there are many endemics.
From the Arachnoidea order, which is in the same class of arthropods, in the Crimea there are: a salpuga, or phalanx, tarantula spiders and a karakurt spider.
Salpuga is a poisonous arachnid, rather large animal, gray-yellowish in color, with long legs. In Crimea, it is found in the foothills and on the southern coast. It is also less common along the shores of the northern part of the peninsula.
The tarantula is characteristic of the steppe fauna. This is a large spider with legs painted ring-shaped in gray and black. The female is twice as large as the male and eats him after mating.
Karakurt is a small black spider with red dots, it is found mainly in the wormwood steppes adjacent to the sea, where it arranges a cobweb hut between the grasses. It often lives under rocks. In houses it comes across as an exception. This animal is nocturnal. The female is poisonous during the mating season, which occurs in mid-summer.
The Crimean scorpion is not particularly dangerous, and it is found relatively infrequently in the rocks of the South Shore. Its closest relatives live in the southern countries. For the Crimea, this species of scorpion is endemic.
The insect fauna of the Crimea is rich both in the number of species and in the abundance of individuals. Insects of the Crimea are forms that are characteristic only for the Crimea or, mainly, for the Mediterranean countries.
In the gardens of the Crimea, a large blue-violet beetle, belonging to the family of ground beetles, is often found. This beetle belongs to the Crimean endemic species and is listed in the Red Book. In the forests near Chatyr-Dag, under fallen leaves, one can often find another ground beetle, also purple, but smaller. This is the so-called Dezhan ground beetle - a species characteristic only of the mountain forests of Crimea.
cave world
The physical world of caves as such, i.e. their darkness, uniform and almost constant temperature, degree of humidity, etc., leaves an indelible imprint on the animals living in the caves, creates a very definite and sharp biological environment. Darkness, for example, affects the color of the surface of the animal's body, discoloring it, and the organs of vision, leading to their reduction and even complete disappearance, and compensating for visual defects by the hypertrophic development of the organs of touch. The relatively constant temperature of the caves affects the nature of the so-called periodic phenomena in the life of cave animals. In a word, each physical factor characteristic of caves has its effect on the appearance and biology of cave animals. Currently, among the inhabitants of the Crimean caves, we know 17 species of protozoa, 5 species of worms, 1 species of molluscs, 70 species of arthropods and 5 species of vertebrates, and a total of 98 species.
Of vertebrates - several species
Almost every corner of our planet is inhabited by animals that are on the verge of extinction. Crimea is no exception; rare representatives of the animal world also live there.
Limiting factors
First of all, the diversity, as well as the uniqueness of the fauna and flora of the peninsula is determined by its geographical location. A small area, about 27,000 km², is divided by three climatic zones: a mountain belt and subtropics on the southern coast, as well as a temperate continental steppe climate. These territories belong to the Black Sea basin and are located at the intersection of migration routes of fauna representatives. Another interesting fact is that there are fifty salt lakes and two hundred and fifty seven rivers in this area. Experts have noticed that due to the significant rate of genetic erosion in recent decades, some plant species have been burned.
Red Book
The peninsula is home to a huge number of exceptional animals that are on the verge of extinction. It was decided to create a document about such inhabitants.
The Red Book uses an eight-point scale to determine the degree of rarity. The animals of Crimea in the Red Book of Russia are the tricolor and pointed-eared bat, the common long-winged bat, the small and large horseshoe bat, the black-headed gull, the large curlew.
Fauna on the peninsula
It is known from history that ostriches and giraffes used to live on the peninsula, and due to climate change, people noticed arctic foxes and reindeer. In addition to animals, about two hundred species of fish live in the waters of Crimea. Of these, in fresh lakes and rivers, there are forty-six, fourteen of which are natives. The rest were brought to the peninsula and adapted well there.
In Crimea, there are fourteen species of reptiles, and only one poisonous one is the steppe viper, as well as six species of lizards. Among the turtles, only the marsh turtle lives, which can be found in mountain reservoirs. About two hundred species of birds live here, living mainly in mountainous areas. Of these, seventeen species arrive for the winter. There are more than sixty species of mammals, they live in mountainous areas, as well as in nature reserves. Foxes, badgers, martens are found on the peninsula, and predatory animals can also be found here. Hares and ferrets are found in forests and steppes. Wolves lived here, but at the beginning of the twentieth century, their populations completely died out. Monk seals and three species of dolphins live in the waters.
Rare animals of the Crimea, listed in the Red Book
Among the rare mammals, one can single out the steppe polecat and the common shrew, their number is declining at a rapid pace. And also wild rams - mouflons are protected. This is the only herd in all of Eastern Europe. The lizard of the spindle family, or it is also called the yellow-bellied, belongs to a protected species that is on the verge of extinction. The lizard has a large head and large eyelids. The yellowbell has a sandy yellow coloration with a dark pattern on the upper body. Rare animals of the Red Book of Crimea: Mediterranean gecko, golden eagle, pygmy bat, white-bellied monk seal.
Sea dwellers
Crimean bottlenose dolphins are also protected. They are able to reach speeds of up to forty km / h and emerge from under the water to a height of five meters. The white-bellied seal or monk seal is on the verge of extinction, there are only 600 representatives of this species left on our planet. For the desire for solitude, as well as short hair, they were called monks. These rare animals of the Crimea, listed in the Red Book, are rather awkward on land, but they feel great in the water. In search of food, seals can swim far from the coast and dive to a depth of five hundred meters. Animals reach a length of about two meters and weigh about three hundred kilograms. Males tend to be covered in thick black fur, while females are noticeably lighter in color. Because of the light lower part of the body, the seal received another name - white-bellied.
Steppe and mountain fox
In the Crimean mountains you can meet mountain foxes, and in the steppes - their steppe subspecies. They feed mainly on hamsters, ground squirrels, mice, and in rare cases even wild rabbits.
In times of famine, foxes eat lizards, insects, and frogs. Due to the fact that these animals of the Red Book of Crimea are susceptible to rabies, tourists should be careful. Previously, they were vaccinated, but now this does not happen. There are no frequent encounters with these animals, because they are very cautious and shy.
weasel
At first glance, it may seem that this is a very small and peaceful animal, but even wolves cannot be compared with the bloodthirstiness of affection. However, she is often tamed and becomes quite a gentle pet.
Weasel will quickly make friends with other household inhabitants. In the house in which this animal lives, insects and rodents will never appear. However, in captivity, weasels barely live past the age of five.
Belodushka
This name is given to the stone marten, whose chest and throat are covered with white fur. Belodushka is a very mobile and voracious predator. However, the stone marten can eat vegetarian food. In the summer and autumn season, white-haired animals are animals listed in the Red Book; in the Crimea, they eat pears, grapes, and hawthorn. When it enters the chicken coop, it will quickly strangle all the chickens.
Badger
Peaceful representative of the animal world of Crimea of the Mustelidae family. The badger's brothers are sables and otters. These animals are very brave and energetic representatives of the fauna. Their burrows are similar to caves, consisting of several floors, and can reach twenty meters in length. Each floor has its own purpose.
This is a fairly clean animal, so the house is cleaned daily. The floor in the burrows is dotted with fragrant grass, which is changed twice a year. The expansion and improvement of the hole is constantly taking place. After a certain amount of time, the holes turn into whole badger underground cities. These animals, listed in the Red Book, in the Crimea feed mainly on mushrooms, wild berries, acorns, as well as ground squirrels, snails and mice. In addition, badgers love honey. These are peaceful animals, but when it comes to their brethren or their homes, they stand to the end.
mouflon
This is a wild animal related to artiodactyls, a genus of rams. Mouflons live on wooded mountain slopes, and in winter they go down a little lower. Males weigh about 50 kg, and females - 35 kg. Males have horns. Mouflons are very cautious animals and try to live away from people.
A wild boar
These animals lived in the Crimea since ancient times, but in the nineteenth century they were completely destroyed. Starting from 1957, one wild boar and thirty-four females from Primorsky Krai were brought from the Chernihiv region. Subsequently, the number of individuals increased significantly.
Boar - an animal of the Red Book of Crimea, whose photo can be seen in the article, feeds on various roots, mushrooms, nuts or acorns. In rare cases, they can feed on insects, bird eggs and rodents.
Crimean red deer
The deer is the largest animal on the peninsula. Its weight can reach 260 kg, and they grow up to 140 cm in height. Basically, the life expectancy of the Crimean deer is 60-70 years. Horns are considered their main weapon. In Crimea, only hunters are considered enemies of deer. Thus, they use their horns during fights for the female, which usually take place in September.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, deer - animals listed in the Red Book, almost completely disappeared in the Crimea. Starting in 1923, a ban on shooting deer came into effect. And already in 1943 the number of individuals increased to two thousand.
Roe
There was a time when these animals lived in the steppes of the Crimea. Now roe deer live on the slopes of the Main mountain range, in addition, they can be found in the forests. When meeting with people, the animal freezes for a few seconds, then, discovering that it has been noticed, it hides in the forest thickets with great speed. Roe deer are like deer. These animals, listed in the Red Book, feed on tree buds, bark, herbaceous plants in the Crimea. Males have horns, which they shed at the beginning of the autumn period. In the spring, the antlers grow back. Foxes and martens are considered enemies of roe deer. Animals have excellent hearing. As soon as they feel danger, they immediately warn their fellows. Their cry is carried at a distance of three kilometers.
What animals are listed in the Red Book of Crimea?
- The common shrew is considered one of the rarest species of mammals. Mostly lives in the mountain-forest part of the Crimea.
- The steppe ferret is a representative of predators. These animals feed on small-sized vertebrates, as well as mouse-like rodents.
- The leather-like bat leads mainly a sedentary lifestyle. Feeds on small insects.
- The common badger is active at dusk and at night. The length of the body is from 60 to 90 cm, the tail is 20 cm long. The head is small, powerful claws on the paws.
- The small gopher lives in burrows that reach almost two meters in depth, and their length is more than four meters. Distributed in sagebrush and forb-feather grass steppes.
Animals of the Crimea, listed in the Red Book of Russia, are the giant vespers, the gray shrike, the eagle owl, the lesser tern, the greave, the steppe tirkushka.
Birds
The gray crane is under the protection of the law, hunting for it is prohibited everywhere. On the peninsula, the animal lives exclusively in swampy meadows and reed beds. The pink starling is also included in the Red Book. He lives on Mount Opuk. Red-headed kinglet, common in the mountainous regions of the Crimea. The eagle owl is a rare bird in the Crimea. It is active, as a rule, at night, preys on small animals and vertebrates.
The Crimean peninsula is a small universe, which combines a diverse climate, unique nature and diverse flora and fauna.
The Red Book lists animals that need protection, as well as endangered species. The first edition was published in 2015. The first volume describes the animal world. Here are some names of animals listed in the Red Book of Crimea: steppe polecat, common shrew, common badger, leather-like bat, small ground squirrel. The second volume is devoted to plants, fungi and algae. In total, four hundred and five species of plants and fungi are included, as well as three hundred and seventy species of animals. The Red Book is considered an official document containing information about wild animals, plants and fungi that permanently or temporarily reside (grow) on the territory of the Crimean peninsula.
Today there are 58 species of land mammals in Crimea. We will begin to tell with more primitive and small ones.
Bat
There are 18 species of bats in Crimea, we call them bats. In terms of the number of species, this is the most numerous order of mammals on the peninsula. The shoulders, forearms, together with the elongated fingers of the forelimbs, the sides of the body, the hind limbs and the stomach of bats are covered with leathery membranes that serve as wings.
Mammals of the chiroptera order mastered the heavenly expanses much later than birds, therefore they are active only in the dark. Having very poor eyesight and good hearing, bats navigate using echolocation apparatus. Animals constantly send ultrasonic waves into space and, picking up response signals, distinguish objects around them. All Crimean species of bats feed exclusively on insects. They maintain balance among insects with nocturnal activity by regulating their numbers.
horseshoe
The most common species of bats in the Crimea are two species, large and small. These animals are distinguished by characteristic horseshoe-shaped outgrowths on the nose. They fly out to hunt twice a day - in the evening and before dawn. The hunt ends in the pre-dawn twilight. Horseshoe bats are bad flyers; in inclement weather, their flight may be delayed or even not take place.
Bats pair up in autumn, and females are fertilized in spring. The cub that was born (sometimes two) gets on the membrane and crawls to the mammary gland, holding tightly to the skin of the mother. At first, the female flies with him in search of food. But the baby grows quickly - in a month you can no longer distinguish it from an adult.
Bats are gullible, so there are few of them left in the Crimea. People killed bats out of ignorance, out of fear, and someone just for fun. Curious cases happen to tourists in caves where bats live. Ultrasonic waves are absorbed in a person's magnificent hair, and a harmless animal in need of protection sometimes flies there without any malicious intent, by mistake - to the great fear and disgust of the city tourist. Obviously, this is also why a headdress is not superfluous in caves and grottoes.
The largest bat of the Crimea - giant party, reaching 10.4 cm in length and 76 g in weight. The smallest bat dwarf bat has a length of about 3-4 cm and 3-9 g of weight.
Gopher
The hot waterless steppe is inhabited gophers- insatiable funny rodents the size of a rat. Gophers are painted in the color of grass, because already at the beginning of summer you can’t hide in withered grass. The animals whistle from time to time, standing on their hind legs near their minks and observing. At noon, gophers sleep in deep cool minks, and when it is especially hot, they fall into a second, summer hibernation. The enemies of gophers in nature are the steppe ferret, fox, gull-gull, birds of prey.
Jerboa jumps on long hind legs, balancing with a long tail with a tassel. This makes him look like a kangaroo. He uses his front paws only for leisurely movement, digs the ground with them, takes food. But on the rear, it can make two-meter jumps, and when running away, it develops speeds of up to fifty kilometers per hour. And he is smaller than a hedgehog!
Its permanent burrows are up to three meters deep, of complex structure, with emergency exits. For hibernation, the jerboa prepares the room underground even deeper and warmer. The food of the jerboa is grains of wild and cultivated cereals, melons and gourds, root crops. He also eats insects.
Jerboa
Hamster gray omnivorous, but prefers plant foods. It stores up to 16 kilograms of grain for the winter, carrying it in cheek pouches. It hibernates only in the most severe winters. Few people like the character of a hamster. It is smaller than a cat, but it fights with large dogs, and near its hole it may not retreat even from a person. If in captivity a female gives birth to cubs, she, as a rule, immediately eats them. So judge for yourself.
Looks a lot like a hamster gray hamster. It differs only in size - almost half the size.
white-bellied hedgehog belongs to the order of insectivores. He does not shun plant food - fruits, seeds, roots, but the basis of his diet is insects and their larvae. Hunting in the evening and at night, the hedgehog eats snails, worms, lizards hiding between stones and even snakes. Strongly hungry, the hedgehog attacks small rodents and its distant relatives - shrews. A hedgehog is born already with spines, but they are soft and all are “combed” back. Hedgehogs are smart and tame well. They only interfere with their nocturnal lifestyle - until the morning they scratch and snort, hunting for mice, spiders, cockroaches, crickets ...
In the steppe can meet hare hare. It is grey, with a brownish back. The color of his coat almost does not change after seasonal molts. Long auricles serve the hare for heat dissipation in the heat, like a protruding tongue of a dog. And also these are hearing organs - two independent from each other, the thinnest sound pickups. In the people, a hare is called oblique. Why? Predators have eyes that are known to point forward to look for prey. They rarely run away and look back. But in herbivorous animals, in peaceful birds and fish, monocular vision: each eye with a maximum viewing angle sees its own part of space.
The mother feeds her hares and leaves them one by one in secluded places for 3-4 days, watching from afar to help in case of danger. The hare rarely visits the children, but they do not die of hunger. These animals have an instinct that obliges each "dairy" hare to feed other people's babies. On the seventh day, the teeth erupt in the hares, they begin to feed on their own, and after another three days they leave the nest and no longer remember their not too affectionate mother. However, when enemies appear, the hare behaves selflessly - it rushes about in circles, diverting attention from the kids.
The fauna of the Crimea is a unique complex of various species, characterized by high rates of isolation from a number of other geographically adjacent faunas inhabiting the territories of the Caucasus, Ukraine and the Balkans. Today in the Crimea there are both endemics and many representatives of rare or endangered animals.
mammals
The class of mammals of the Crimean animals includes representatives of six species of the order of insectivores, eighteen species of the order of bats, fifteen species of the order of rodents, seven species of carnivores, six species of artiodactyls and only a couple of species of lagomorphs.
Crimean red deer
The largest and most conspicuous inhabitant of the Crimean forests is distinguished by its slenderness, proud head position and wide branched horns, which annually fall off in February or March. The average weight of an adult sexually mature male of the Crimean red deer reaches 250-260 kg, with an animal height at the withers in the range of 135-140 cm. The life expectancy of an artiodactyl mammal rarely exceeds 60-70 years.
Steppe polecat, or white polecat
A nocturnal mammal, an animal belonging to the genus and weasels from the weasel family, is the largest representative of the genus. The average body length of the animal varies from 52 to 56 cm, with a weight in the range of 1.8-2.0 kg. The obligate predator has a high, but sparse hairline with a clearly visible and dense light-colored underfur. The animal is characterized by a dark color of the paws and tail, as well as a very peculiar coloring of the muzzle.
Badger
Birds
About nine dozen species of Crimean birds are classified as rare, including such rather large predators as the steppe eagle, imperial eagle, vulture and black vulture. Among the Crimean birds there is also a large number of songbirds.
blackbird
A songbird leading a sedentary and migratory lifestyle. The length of an adult is a quarter of a meter, with an average weight in the range of 90-120g. Females are brown in color with light spots on the back. Males are characterized by black plumage. Birds settle in areas of mixed and broad-leaved forests, in urban parks and gardens, where these birds prefer to stay in pairs.
Pheasant
The males of this species are distinguished by a very bright plumage, which is dominated by a pale red color with black spots. Beautiful feathers are complemented by a white ring at the neck. The female is characterized by a gray coloration with streaks. They differ markedly from any other chickens in the presence of a long and pointed tail. Such a bird prefers to take off noisily and suddenly, vertically upwards, after which it flies strictly horizontally.
demoiselle crane
The steppe crane is the smallest and second most common crane. Such birds fly in a well-coordinated and clear “key”, headed by the leader, who sets the entire rhythm of the flight. The height of one of the most beautiful birds is approximately 88-89 cm, with an average weight of 2-3 kg. There is black plumage on the head and neck, and long tufts of white feathers are very clearly visible behind the eyes of the bird.
Pastor
Adults have a kind of crest on their heads. The wings, tail, head and neck of the bird are characterized by black coloration with a metallic tint. The rest of the plumage is pink. The natural habitat of the pink starling is open spaces with cliffs, stone clusters and rocky cliffs, where the bird has become numerous and quite common. Sometimes such birds settle in different cultural landscapes.
common eider
Reptiles and amphibians
Fourteen species of reptiles live on the Crimean peninsula, including lizards, turtles and snakes. Six species of non-venomous snakes are represented by copper snake, common snake and water snake, four-stripe snake, leopard snake and yellow-bellied snake. Only the steppe viper applies to.
Crimean bare-toed gecko
The small lizard is the rarest subspecies of the slender-toed Mediterranean gecko. A rare scaly reptile has a flattened body no more than 5 cm long and has a rather long tail. The color of the Crimean bare-toed gecko is represented by gray or sandy-gray tones. In addition to rather small scales, the sides and top of the gecko's body are covered with large oval-shaped tubercles.
Yellowbelly
A peculiar legless lizard is completely devoid of front legs, but has hind limbs, represented by two tubercles located next to the anus. The largest representative of the family in size reaches a length of one and a half meters, is distinguished by a tetrahedral head and a pointed muzzle. The serpentine body, compressed from the sides, passes into a rather long and mobile tail.
rock lizard
A representative of the family Real lizards has a body length of up to 80-88 mm. The upper part of the body has a green, brownish, sometimes olive-gray, dark sandy or ash-gray coloration. In the region of the ridge there are a pair of small dark spots, merging into characteristic stripes. On the sides of the body there are dark and light stripes, and in the chest area of the rocky lizard there are “blue eyes” characteristic of the species.
Crimean lizard
One of the common varieties of wall oviparous lizards has a body length of 20-24 cm. The color of the lizard on top is greenish or brownish in color with a pair of longitudinal rows of dark spots. The belly area in adult males has a yellowish or orange color, while in females the lower part of the body is characterized by a greenish or white color. The body is slightly compressed, turning into a long tail.
Agile Lizard
Representatives of the species are distinguished by a light lower abdomen and the presence of stripes in the back. At the same time, males, as a rule, have a darker and brighter color, and also have a fairly large head. The average length of an adult reaches 25 cm. This lizard received a very unusual name due to the ability to change the direction of its movement quite sharply and quickly, which makes it easy to confuse pursuers.
swamp turtle
Fish
The ichthyofauna of Crimea is very diverse, and the fish that exist here are represented by species that live in the waters of the Azov and Black Seas, and also inhabit various fresh water bodies located on the territory of the peninsula.
Russian sturgeon
The representative of the sturgeon family has residential and migratory forms. The fish is distinguished by the presence of gill membranes attached to the intergill space with no folds, a short and rounded snout, and a discontinuous lower lip. The body is usually covered with rows of stellate plates. The dorsal region is characterized by a gray-brown coloration, and the sides are distinguished by a gray-yellow color.
Sterlet
A valuable commercial fish of the sturgeon family is a popular object of lake and pond breeding. Against the background of other members of the family, it enters the period of puberty at an earlier date, uses mainly mosquito larvae in its diet. It is assumed that the natural diet of females and males is noticeably different, due to different environmental conditions.
Black Sea-Azov Shemaya
A representative of a very rare species from the cyprinid family has an elongated and low body with lateral compression, the maximum length of which, as a rule, does not exceed 30-35 cm. The dorsal fin is noticeably set back. Ray-finned fish is characterized by a pelagic type of color, has a dark green color of the back with a bluish tint, as well as grayish coloring of the fins.
Black Sea herring
A representative of the herring family is distinguished by a lateral, laterally compressed body, the height of which is approximately 19-35% of the total length. The fish has a strongly pronounced keel, a low and narrow head, a large mouth with well-developed teeth that are noticeable to the touch. The color of the dorsal surface of the fish is greenish-blue, with a pronounced silvery-white coloration on the sides of the body.
blacktip shark
A representative of the Karhariformes order has a spindle-shaped body, a short and pointed snout, rather long gill slits, and is also distinguished by the absence of a ridge. Most individuals are distinguished by black edging at the tips of the fins. The average length of an adult shark is one and a half meters. An active predator eats schooling small fish, and juveniles form clusters with size segregation.
Toothed grouper
The fish belonging to the Stone Perch family is characterized by a rather powerful body, the maximum length of which is 162-164 cm, with a weight in the range of 34-35 kg. In this case, the upper jaw of the fish extends beyond the vertical edges of the eye. A distinctive feature of the grouper is the presence of a rounded caudal fin and a retractable upper jaw, which takes the form of a tube in the process of opening the mouth.
spotted wrasse
Medium-sized fish, has an elongated body and a long, pointed head. Males are noticeably larger than females. In the snout area there are thick and rather fleshy lips, and the support of the long dorsal fin is provided by hard rays located in the anterior part. A specific feature of the spotted wrasse is a very pronounced sexual dimorphism, as well as a change in color during the spawning period.
Mokoy
Representatives of the monotypic genus are distinguished by an elongated and slender body with long pectoral fins. The color of the upper body is blue, and the color becomes lighter on the sides, so the belly has an almost white color. The maximum body length of an adult blue shark exceeds three meters, with an average weight of 200 kg. The fish is distinguished by triangular and beveled teeth with pronounced notches.
Black Sea trout
Representatives of the salmon subspecies are found in residential and anadromous forms. A very valuable commercial object and a species popular in sport fishing conditions, it is distinguished by its medium size and external characteristics that are standard for the class Ray-finned fish and the Salmon-like order. The basis of nutrition of the Black Sea trout consists of amphipods, as well as aquatic insect larvae and their adult air forms.
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, 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 - molluscs. 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 extremely 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 it is possible to 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 water, 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 Swan 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 population, 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.