Daurian hedgehog | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Eulipotyphla |
Family: | Erinaceidae |
Genus: | Mesechinus |
Species: | M. dauuricus |
Binomial name | |
Mesechinus dauuricus (Sundevall, 1842) | |
The distribution of the Daurian hedgehog |
The Daurian hedgehog (Mesechinus dauuricus) is a solitary small hedgehog. [2] It is listed in the Red book of Russian Federation as a protected species with an unclear status, generally considered to be endangered, although the IUCN lists it as "least concern". It populates the Transbaikal region of Russia (this region is sometimes called Dauria, hence the name) and Northern Mongolia. It lives in dens and inhabits both forests and steppes. The steppes consists mainly of grassland plains and scrublands. The Daurian hedgehog actively select scrublands and rocky areas, perhaps for greater cover and concealment from predators. This species of hedgehogs are known to occupy larger home ranges than other hedgehog species. [3] The adult Daurian hedgehog is 15 to 20 centimeters long and weighs up to 1 kilogram (usually around 600 grams). Most live up to six years in nature. Like most hedgehog species in temperate regions, the Daurian hibernates during the winter.
After introduction and extensive use of pesticides in mid-1960s, the Russian population of the Daurian hedgehog suffered a major loss. Since that time, the species seems to have had a modest recovery, although the population has not yet returned to its original size. Currently, it seems to be moving northwards and closer to cities due to more abundant food, less danger from agricultural activities and newfound human tolerance for their presence. Cases of successfully starting new populations by artificially moving several adults to new areas have been reported. Due to the low population density of the region the complete status of this species is unclear.
The Daurian jackdaw is a bird in the crow family, Corvidae, native to eastern Asia. It is closely related to the western jackdaw. The name derives from the Dauria region of eastern Russia.
The Pallas's cat, also known as the manul, is a small wild cat with long and dense light grey fur. Its rounded ears are set low on the sides of the head. Its head-and-body length ranges from 46 to 65 cm with a 21 to 31 cm long bushy tail. It is well camouflaged and adapted to the cold continental climate in its native range, which receives little rainfall and experiences a wide range of temperatures. The Pallas's cat's pupils are rounded, a unique feature among the Felinae.
The steppe eagle is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The steppe eagle's well-feathered legs illustrate it to be a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, also known as the "booted eagles". This species was once considered to be closely related to the sedentary tawny eagle and the two forms have previously been treated as conspecific. They were split based on pronounced differences in morphology and anatomy; two molecular studies, each based on a very small number of genes, indicate that the species are distinct but disagree over how closely related they are.
Erinaceidae is a family in the order Eulipotyphla, consisting of the hedgehogs and moonrats. Until recently, it was assigned to the order Erinaceomorpha, which has been subsumed with the paraphyletic Soricomorpha into Eulipotyphla. Eulipotyphla has been shown to be monophyletic; Soricomorpha is paraphyletic because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs.
Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia, or Dauria is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia.
Hugh's hedgehog, also sometimes referred to as the central Chinese hedgehog, is native to central China and Manchuria. It prefers open areas of dry steppe, but can be found in shrubland and forests. It is known to look for food even in daytime on rainy days.
The Daurian partridge, steppe partridge, Asian grey partridge, or bearded partridge, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes. Its name derives from the Dauria region of Russia, which forms part of their distribution.
The corsac fox, also known simply as a corsac, is a medium-sized fox found in steppes, semi-deserts and deserts in Central Asia, ranging into Mongolia and northern China. Since 2004, it has been classified as least concern by IUCN, but populations fluctuate significantly, and numbers can drop tenfold within a single year. It is also known as the steppe fox. The word "corsac" is derived from the Russian name for the animal, "korsák" (корса́к), derived ultimately from Turkic "karsak".
The grey red-backed vole or the grey-sided vole is a species of vole. An adult grey red-backed vole weighs 20-50 grams. This species ranges across northern Eurasia, including northern China, the northern Korean Peninsula, and the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaidō. It is larger and longer-legged than the northern red-backed vole, which covers a similar range and it is also sympatric with the Norwegian lemming.
The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistria, Ukraine, Western Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang, Mongolia and Manchuria, with one major exclave, the Pannonian steppe or Puszta, located mostly in Hungary.
The Mongolian-Manchurian grassland, also known as the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe or Gobi-Manchurian steppe, in the temperate grassland biome, is an ecoregion in East Asia covering parts of Mongolia, the Chinese Autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, and Northeast China.
The upland buzzard is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. The largest species of the Buteo genus, this buzzard lives in mountainous grassy and rocky areas in areas of Central Asia, northern South Asia and East Asia from Kazakhstan to Korea. The upland buzzard is migratory but typically covers a short distance apparently to avoid snow cover that may hamper prey capture. This species primarily subsists on small mammals but does not shun alternate prey from small to large birds and insects. This little known raptor has a large range, and though generally uncommon, it is not thought to be rare or declining as a species. As a result it is classified as least concern by the IUCN.
The Daurian starling, or purple-backed starling, is a species of bird in the starling family found in the eastern Palearctic from eastern Mongolia and southeastern Russia to North Korea and central China.
The Daurian pika is a small relative of rabbits and hares in the order Lagomorpha. It is well known for its “barking” alarm call, and for its peculiar habit of making hay to help survive the winter. There are 4 recognized subspecies, Ochotona dauurica annectens, O.d. bedfordi, O.d. dauurica, and O.d. mursavi. Daurian pikas, like other lagomorphs, are characterized by a secondary set of incisor teeth. They are sexually monomorphic, with thick reddish coats. Pikas have no external tail, and their ears are large and rounded. The auditory bullae, a feature of the skull of daurian pikas are small in comparison to many other pikas. This is thought to be related to their fairly low altitude habitat preference. They are considered keystone species within their habitat.
Jackdaws are two species of bird in the genus Coloeus closely related to, but generally smaller than, the crows and ravens (Corvus). Coloeus is sometimes treated as a subgenus of Corvus, including by the IUCN. They have a blackish crown, wings and tail, the rest of the plumage being paler. The word Coloeus is New Latin, from the Ancient Greek for jackdaws: koloiós (κολοιός).
The Daurian Nature Reserve is a Russian 'zapovednik' situated in the southern part of the Zabaykalsky Krai in Siberia, Russia, close to the border with Mongolia. It is part of a World Heritage Site named "The Landscapes of Dauria".
Hypsugo alaschanicus, the Alashanian pipistrelle, is a species of bat in the family Vespertilionidae. It is found in China, South Korea, Mongolia, Japan, and Russia.