The Kyzylkum Desert is the 15th largest desert in the world. Its name means Red Sand in Turkic languages. It is located in Central Asia, in the land between the confluent rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, a region historically known as Transoxania. Today it is divided between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It covers about 298,000 km2 (115,000 sq mi).
The onager, also known as hemione or Asiatic wild ass, is a species of the family Equidae native to Asia. A member of the subgenus Asinus, the onager was described and given its binomial name by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1775. Six subspecies have been recognized, two of which are extinct.
The snowcocks or snowfowl are a group of bird species in the genus Tetraogallus of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are ground-nesting birds that breed in the mountain ranges of southern Eurasia from the Caucasus to the Himalayas and western China. Some of the species have been introduced into the United States. Snowcocks feed mainly on plant material.
The dorcas gazelle, also known as the ariel gazelle, is a small and common gazelle. The dorcas gazelle stands about 55–65 cm at the shoulder, with a head and body length of 90–110 cm and a weight of 15–20 kg. The numerous subspecies survive on vegetation in grassland, steppe, wadis, mountain desert and in semidesert climates of Africa and Arabia. About 35,000–40,000 exist in the wild.
The mountain gazelle, also called the true gazelle or the Palestine mountain gazelle, is a species of gazelle that is widely but unevenly distributed.
Thomson's gazelle is one of the best known species of gazelles. It is named after explorer Joseph Thomson and is sometimes referred to as a "tommie". It is considered by some to be a subspecies of the red-fronted gazelle and was formerly considered a member of the genus Gazella within the subgenus Eudorcas, before Eudorcas was elevated to genus status.
Soemmerring's gazelle, also known as the Abyssinian mohr, is a gazelle species native to the Horn of Africa. The species was described and given its binomen by German physician Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar in 1828. Three subspecies are recognized. It is possibly no longer present in Sudan.
Cuvier's gazelle is a species of gazelle native to Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, and Tunisia. It is also known as the edmi. It is one of the darkest gazelle species, possibly an adaptation to its partial woodland habitat. It is sometimes placed into the genus Trachelocele together with the goitered gazelles and the rhim gazelles.
The Saudi gazelle is a Gazella species that was once native to the Arabian Peninsula. It was declared extinct in the wild in 1996, as it was last observed in the wild in 1970. The Saudi gazelle was officially declared extinct on the IUCN Red List in 2008.
The Mongolian gazelle, or dzeren, is a medium-sized antelope native to the semiarid Central Asian steppes of Mongolia, southern Siberia and northern China. The name dzeren is the Russian spelling and pronunciation of the Mongolian word zeer, or the Buryat zeeren.
The Siberian ibex, also known using regionalized names including Altai ibex,Asian ibex, Central Asian ibex, Gobi ibex, Himalayan ibex, Mongolian ibex or Tian Shan ibex, is a polytypic species of ibex, a wild relative of goats and sheep. It lives in Central Asia, and is, by far, the most widely-distributed species in the genus Capra. In terms of population stability, Siberian ibex are currently ranked as Near Threatened, mostly due to over-hunting, low densities and overall decline; still, reliable data is minimal and difficult to come by, in addition to the animals’ expansive natural range, so accurate observations are still scant. The Siberian ibex has, formerly, been treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian Alpine ibex, and whether or not it is a single species or a complex of distinct units that stand out as genetically-distinct is still not entirely clear. The Siberian ibex is the longest and heaviest member of the genus Capra, though its shoulder height is slightly surpassed by the markhor.
Hyles hippophaes, the seathorn hawk-moth, is a species of moth in the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1789.
A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus Gazella. There are also seven species included in two further genera; Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera of Gazella. A third former subgenus, Procapra, includes three living species of Asian gazelles.
Repetek Biosphere State Reserve, often referred to as Repetek Nature or Desert Reserve, is a desert nature reserve (zapovednik) of Turkmenistan, located in Lebap Province, East Karakum Desert, near Amu Darya. It is located approximately 70 km (43 mi) south from Türkmenabat and is known for its zemzen. Established in 1928 for the study and preservation of a sand-desert ecosystem, it covers an area of 346 km2 (134 sq mi).
Mountain Kalamaili Ungulate Nature Reserve, also spelled Kalamely Nature Reserve, is a nature reserve in Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, targeting in preserving the wildlife and natural vegetations in the arid steppe ecosystem. As one of the largest nature reserves in China, established in April 1982, it stretches from the Ulungur River in the north, across the heart of Dzungarian Basin, and reaches to the northern extension of Tianshan Mountains in the south, covering an area of more than 14,000 km2 (5,400 sq mi).
The lesser mouse-eared bat or lesser mouse-eared myotis is a species of insectivorous bat in the family Vespertilionidae.
The Arabian sand gazelle or reem is a species of gazelle native to the West Asia, specifically the Arabian and Syrian Deserts.
The Central Asian southern desert ecoregion is an arid but ecologically active region between the east coast of the Caspian Sea and steppes at the base of the mountains of central Asia. Most of Turkmenistan and eastern Uzbekistan is in this ecoregion. The winters are milder than in the cold desert to the north, and a large number of endemic species have adapted to living in the particular climate and soil of the region. As with sandy deserts in general, the region is notable for high numbers of endemic species of reptiles and insects.
