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Wildlife of Irad

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The wildlife of Irad includes the animals and plants of three very different environments: the deserts and steppes of the north, the irrigated river valleys, and the high ranges of the western Tian Shan. The mountains hold the snow leopard, the Siberian ibex, the argali and the Tian Shan brown bear, and their slopes carry juniper and spruce woodland and, on the side facing the Fergana Valley, some of the largest natural walnut forests in the world. The plains are home to the corsac fox, the steppe tortoise and breeding steppe eagles, and saiga antelope winter in the Moiynkum.[1][2]

Most wildlife habitat lies on the tribal side of the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line, in the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR), where clan councils regulate hunting and grazing, and no national survey of any species has been possible since 2007. Poaching, overgrazing, the felling of woodland and the loss of river water to irrigation are the main threats.[3]

Mammals

Mountains

The snow leopard (ilbirs) lives in the Talas Alatau, Chatkal and Fergana ranges, mostly between about 2,500 and 4,000 meters, and descends lower in winter as its prey moves down. A 2021 review by zoologists at Talas State University put the total for the Iradi ranges at 60 to 110 animals, part of a population that ranges along the western Tian Shan into the neighboring countries. Camera traps have identified about a dozen individuals in the Chatkal Snow Leopard Sanctuary and at least nine in the upper Besh-Tash valley between 2018 and 2022.[4] Its main prey is the Siberian ibex (teke for the male), the most numerous large wild hoofed animal of the high ranges, which herders honor by placing its horns on shrines and graves; local numbers have fallen through poaching.[2]

The argali (arkhar), the largest wild sheep, survives in two places: the Karatau argali, a subspecies found only in the Karatau, whose numbers surveys put in the low hundreds, and small, scattered groups in the Talas Alatau, including the Aksay Plateau, whose numbers fell sharply in the 1990s and 2000s through hunting and competition with livestock.[2] Other mountain mammals are the pale-furred Tian Shan brown bear, which lives mainly between 1,500 and 3,500 meters and feeds largely on grasses, roots, wild apples and walnuts; the rare Turkestan lynx, known mostly from camera traps set for snow leopards; the wolf and the stone marten; Menzbier's marmot, found only in the western Tian Shan; and two pikas of the boulder fields and scree.[2] Wild boar live in the walnut forest of Arslanbob.

Plains and valleys

The corsac fox (karsak) is common in the Chu lowlands, the Moiynkum and the Betpak-Dala; it was trapped in large numbers for its fur in the Soviet period. Saiga antelope of the Betpak-Dala population winter in the Moiynkum, together with goitered gazelles. The Asiatic wild ass (kulan), remembered in place names such as Kulan-Talaa and Kulan-Sor, was hunted out of the western plains in the early 20th century.[1] The Asian badger digs its burrows in loess slopes and river woodland, and some are still killed for their fat, a folk remedy for coughs. The Eurasian otter, recorded by Soviet zoologists in the larger rivers of the Syr Darya basin, has not been confirmed in Irad since the 1990s and may be extinct there.[2] The Kyrk-Kazyk Caves in the Ak-Kyr ridge shelter the largest known bat colonies in Irad, about 2,300 greater and lesser horseshoe bats counted in the winter of 2018.[5]

Birds

Birds of prey are the best known of Irad's birds. The lammergeier and the Himalayan griffon nest on cliffs in the Talas Alatau, the Chatkal and the Karatau, including the Besh-Tash valley and the Kara-Suu Canyon. Golden eagles breed throughout the mountains; Iradi falconers prize those of the Chatkal, which they call the Chatkal golden eagle, and take young birds from eyries to train the females for hunting foxes and hares (see Burkut Saluu).[6] The saker falcon breeds on cliffs, old trees and pylons on the edges of the steppe; it is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, and taking wild sakers is illegal in the ISEZ, although conservation groups report that trapping for the falconry trade of the Gulf states continues. The steppe eagle, which nests on the ground on the plains of the Betpak-Dala and the Moiynkum, has been listed as Endangered since 2015, and electrocution on medium-voltage power lines is one of the main causes of its decline.[6]

The Himalayan snowcock (ular) lives on alpine meadows and scree, and bar-headed geese and ruddy shelducks breed on the lakes of the Aksay Plateau. The Asian houbara bustard winters on the western plains. The saline lakes of Kaz-Köl on the southern Betpak-Dala are a stopover for migrating waterbirds in spring and autumn; ornithologists counted about 1,200 greater flamingos there in May 2016.[7] On their autumn migration raptors pass over the Karakyr Range, where Talas State University ornithologists count steppe eagles, buzzards and harriers in September and October, and use the updrafts along the Sary-Kyr ridge.[6]

Reptiles and fish

The Russian tortoise (tash baka) is common in the deserts, the Chu lowlands and the foothills of the Karatau and the Talas Alatau. It is active only from March to June, while the ephemeral plants are green, and spends the rest of the year in burrows; the IUCN lists it as Vulnerable. Reports of the Central Asian cobra from the Fergana rim and the Karatau have not been confirmed, and herpetologists attribute them to harmless snakes.[8]

The native cold-water fish of the mountain rivers are the marinka or snowtrout and the osmans. The trout of the Naryn basin, including the Toktogul Reservoir, and of the upper Talas and the Chatkal derive from Soviet and later stocking (see Iradi Mountain Trout), and rainbow trout are farmed near Talas and Toktogul.[9] The Turkestan barbel, once common in the lowland reaches of the Chu and the Talas, declined sharply in the 20th century as irrigation diverted water and dams blocked its spawning runs; commercial fishing for it is banned in the ISEZ, and most of the fried fish sold in Talas markets is carp.[9] In 2012 fish died in the Altyn-Say below a gold-panning camp, and the clan council banned the use of mercury in its basin.[10]

Plants

Vegetation changes with altitude and with the direction a slope faces. The deserts and semi-deserts carry low gray wormwoods, saltworts and saxaul, with a short burst of ephemeral grasses and wild tulips after spring rain. Riparian woodland (tugay) of poplar, willow, oleaster and tamarisk lines the lowland rivers where it survived Soviet clearance, and sea buckthorn, barberry and birch grow along mountain streams.[1]

On the moist slopes facing the Fergana Valley, between about 1,000 and 2,000 meters, walnut-fruit forest of wild walnut, wild apple, pear, cherry plum and maple covers on the order of 10,000 hectares around Arslanbob alone, with wild pistachio on the driest sites. Juniper (arsha), whose smoke is used for blessing, covers sunny slopes between about 1,500 and 3,000 meters, and Tian Shan spruce, with Semenov's fir around Sary-Chelek, grows on shaded slopes. Subalpine and alpine meadows above the tree line hold edelweiss, gentians and poppies.[11] More than 1,000 species of vascular plants have been recorded in the Sary-Chelek Biosphere Reserve and more than 700 in the Besh-Tash Ecological Conservation Area.[12] Herders and villagers gather wild mountain cumin, wild oregano, barberries and walnuts, and walnuts and wild fruit are among the main exports of the tribal regions.[1]

Conservation

In the ISEZ, hunting of the argali and the brown bear is banned and hunting of the ibex is licensed; in the tribal regions hunting is regulated by clan councils. Most protected areas lie wholly or partly on the tribal side of the line, where clan wardens protect them (see Protected areas of Irad).[3] Irad is not a State Party to CITES, and conservationists have raised concerns about the trapping of saker falcons and the collection of wild tortoises for the international pet trade. Overgrazing around villages, water points and summer camps prevents walnut and apple forests from regenerating, and the slow-growing juniper woodlands, heavily cut for fuel in the Soviet period, are still cut for firewood.[3] IradOne's documentary series Seasons of the Talas Alatau (2022), filmed largely with camera traps in the upper valleys, was the most-watched documentary series on IradOne in 2023.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Talas State University, Faculty of Geography (2018). Physical Geography of Irad. Talas State University Press, Talas, pp. 44–97.
  2. ^ Department of Zoology, Talas State University (2019). Mammals of the Talas Alatau and Chatkal Ranges. Talas State University Press, Talas.
  3. ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2020). Environmental Conditions Along the Qara-Chik Line. Report to the Secretary-General, Talas.
  4. ^ Department of Zoology, Talas State University (2021). "The Snow Leopard in the Talas Alatau and Chatkal Ranges: A Review of Records, 1990–2020." Bulletin of Talas State University: Natural Sciences, No. 18, pp. 3–29.
  5. ^ Talas State University Speleological Group (2019). 'Karst and Caves of the Sary-Bulak Foothills.' Iradi Geographical Journal, Vol. 31, pp. 44–61.
  6. ^ Department of Zoology, Talas State University (2020). Birds of Irad: An Annotated Checklist. Talas State University Press, Talas.
  7. ^ Department of Zoology, Talas State University (2017). 'Waterbirds of the Kaz-Köl Lakes, 2012–2016.' Bulletin of Talas State University: Natural Sciences, No. 14, pp. 61–74.
  8. ^ Department of Zoology, Talas State University (2018). Amphibians and Reptiles of Irad. Talas State University Press, Talas, pp. 22–31.
  9. ^ Department of Zoology, Talas State University (2017). Fishes of the Talas, Chu and Naryn Basins. Talas State University Press, Talas, pp. 48–55.
  10. ^ Talas Herald (17 September 2012). 'Clan council bans mercury after fish die in Chatkal stream.' Talas.
  11. ^ Central Asian Botanical Review (2020). 'Altitudinal Zonation and Endemism in the Western Tian Shan.' Vol. 18, pp. 7–31.
  12. ^ Central Asian Botanical Review (2021). 'Flora and Forest Dynamics of the Besh-Tash Reserve.' Vol. 19, pp. 112–130.
  13. ^ Irad Media Research Center (2023). Television and Online Audience Survey of the ISEZ. Talas.
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