|
Altun Shan National Nature Reserve
Altun Shan National Nature Reserve () (literally, "O You Golden Mountain") is a large, arid area in the southeast of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, on the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau and the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in northwest China. It surrounds the Kumkol Basin, an endorheic basin (no outlets to the sea) in the western third of the Altyn-Tagh mountains ("Altun Shan"). The reserve is sometimes referred to as the "Arjin Mountains Nature Reserve", or "Aerjinshan". The reserve covers the southern portions of Qiemo County and Ruoqiang County (including Qimantag Township ()) of Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang. Topography The Altun Shan Reserve is an elongated triangular area on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, just south of the Tarim Basin. The reserve occupies the "V"-shaped region between the southern slopes of the Altun Shan range on the north and the northern slopes of the Kulun mountain range on the south. The eastern third of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xinjiang Autonomous Region
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the Northwest China, northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia. Being the List of Chinese administrative divisions by area, largest province-level division of China by area and the List of the largest country subdivisions by area, 8th-largest country subdivision in the world, Xinjiang spans over and has about 25 million inhabitants. Xinjiang borders the countries of Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. The Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 peaks exceeding in elevation lie in the Himalayas. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia (Aconcagua, in the Andes) is tall. The Himalayas abut or cross five countries: Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir region is disputed among India, Pakistan, and China. The Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo–Brahmaputra, rise in the vicinity of the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people; 53 million people live in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dhole
The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It is genetically close to species within the genus ''Canis'', but distinct in several anatomical aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar and the upper molars sport only a single cusp as opposed to between two and four. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, Europe and North America but became restricted to its historical range 12,000–18,000 years ago. The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans without rigid dominance hierarchies and containing multiple breeding females. Such clans usually consist of about 12 individuals, but groups of over 40 are known. It is a diurnal pack hunter which preferentially targets large and medium-sized ungulates. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ladak Pika
The Ladak pika (''Ochotona ladacensis''), also known as the Ladakh pika, is a species of mammal in the family Ochotonidae found in China, India, and Pakistan. Prior to identification as a separate species, specimens were thought to be of the plateau pika. Named for the Ladakh region, they are commonly found in valleys of the mountain ranges spanning from Pakistan through India to China at an elevation between and are herbivores. Taxonomy Specimens of the Ladak pika were originally identified as plateau pika due to their color and the similarities in the narrow interorbital region on the skull of each species. However, differences were found between the two including the smaller auditory bulla found in the Ladak pika and a differently arched skull shape. There are no subspecies of the Ladak pika. Local names in the Ladakhi language include ''zabra'', ''karin'', and ''phisekarin''. Description The fur of the Ladak pika is a light brown/grey with a yellow/white underside. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kozlov's Pika
Koslov's pika or Kozlov's pika (''Ochotona koslowi'') is a species of mammal in the family Ochotonidae. It is endemic to China. Its natural habitat is tundra. It is threatened by habitat loss. Kozlov's pika are herbivores, they are known as "ecosystem engineers" as they're known to promote diversity of different plants species. Specifically, this species of Pikas has been enlisted as "endangered" in China. Kozlov Pikas are estimated to be within the Northern edge of the Arkatag Range in China. See also *List of endangered and protected species of China The endangered species of China may include any wildlife species designated for protection by the national government of China or listed as endangered by international organizations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered S ... Sources Chapman, Joseph A, and John E.C. Flux. “Rabbits, Hares and Pikas: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan.” International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibetan Antelope
The Tibetan antelope or chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'') (, pronounced ; ) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Most of the population live within the Chinese border, while some scatter across India and Bhutan in the high altitude plains, hill plateau and montane valley. Fewer than 150,000 mature individuals are left in the wild, but the population is currently thought to be increasing. In 1980s and 1990s, they had become endangered due to massive illegal poaching. They are hunted for their extremely soft, light and warm underfur which is usually obtained after death. This underfur, known as ''shahtoosh'' (a Persian word meaning "king of fine wools"), is used to weave luxury shawls. Shahtoosh shawls were traditionally given as wedding gifts in India and it takes the underfur of three to five adult antelopes to make one shawl. Despite strict controls on trade of shahtoosh products and CITES listing, there is still demand for these luxury items. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bos Mutus
The wild yak (''Bos mutus'') is a large, wild bovine native to the Himalayas. It is the ancestor of the domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''). Taxonomy The ancestor of the wild and domestic yak is thought to have diverged from ''Bos primigenius'' at a point between one and five million years ago. The wild yak is now normally treated as a separate species from the domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''). Description The wild yak is among the largest extant bovid species. Adults stand about tall at the shoulder, and weigh . The head and body length is , not counting the tail of .Han Jianlin, M. Melletti, J. Burton, 2014, Wild yak (Bos mutus Przewalski, 1883), Ecology, Evolution and Behavior of Wild Cattle: Implications for Conservation, Chapter 1, p.203, Cambridge University Press The females are about one-third the weight and are about 30% smaller in their linear dimensions when compared to bull wild yaks. Domesticated yaks are somewhat smaller. They are heavily built animals with a bul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qaidam Basin
The Qaidam, Tsaidam, or Chaidamu Basin is a hyperarid basin that occupies a large part of Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai Province, China. The basin covers an area of approximately , one-fourth of which is covered by saline lakes and playas. Around one third of the basin, about , is desert. Name ''Tshwa'i 'Dam'' is the Wylie romanization of the Tibetan name , meaning "Salt Marsh"; the Tibetan Pinyin romanization of the same name is ''Caidam''. ''Qaidam'' is the GNC romanization of its transcription into Mongolian; ''Tsaidam'' is a variant romanization of the same name. ''Chaidamu'' is the pinyin romanization of its transcription into Chinese characters; the same name was formerly romanized as the for the Chinese Postal Map. Geography Orographically, the Qaidam Basin is a comparatively low area in the northeastern part of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.. With an elevation of around , Qaidam forms a kind of shelf between Tibet to the south (around ) and Gansu to the north (around ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Tibetan Plateau-Kunlun Mountains Alpine Desert
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is related to the Old High German ''nord'', both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *''ner-'', meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. The Latin word ''borealis'' comes from the Greek '' boreas'' "north wind, north", which, according to Ovid, was personified as the wind-god Boreas, the father of Calais and Zetes. ''Septentrionalis'' is from ''septentriones'', "the seven plow oxen", a name of ''Ursa Major''. The Greek ἀρκτικός (''arktikós'') is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word ''Arctic''. Other languages have other derivations. For example, in Lezgian, ''kefer'' can mean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Climate
The polar climate regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers but with varying winters. Every month in a polar climate has an average temperature of less than . Regions with polar climate cover more than 20% of the Earth's area. Most of these regions are far from the equator and near the poles, and in this case, winter days are extremely short and summer days are extremely long (could last for the entirety of each season or longer). A polar climate consists of cool summers and very cold winters, which results in treeless tundra, glaciers, or a permanent or semi-permanent layer of ice. It is identified with the letter E in the Köppen climate classification. Subtypes There are two types of polar climate: ET, or tundra climate; and EF, or ice cap climate. A tundra climate is characterized by having at least one month whose average temperature is above , while an ice cap climate has no months averaging above . In a tundra climate, even coniferous trees cannot grow, but o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notably in 1918 and 1936. Later, the climatologist Rudolf Geiger (1894–1981) introduced some changes to the classification system, which is thus sometimes called the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system. The Köppen climate classification divides climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on seasonal precipitation and temperature patterns. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (temperate), ''D'' (continental), and ''E'' (polar). Each group and subgroup is represented by a letter. All climates are assigned a main group (the first letter). All climates except for those in the ''E'' group are assigned a seasonal precipitation subgroup (the second letter). For example, ''Af'' indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert climates are dry and hold little moisture, quickly evaporating the already little rainfall they receive. Covering 14.2% of earth's land area, hot deserts are the second most common type of climate on earth after the polar climate. There are two variations of a desert climate according to the Köppen climate classification: a hot desert climate (''BWh''), and a cold desert climate (''BWk''). To delineate "hot desert climates" from "cold desert climates", there are three widely used isotherms: most commonly a mean annual temperature of , or sometimes the coldest month's mean temperature of , so that a location with a ''BW'' type climate with the appropriate temperature above whichever isotherm is being used is classified as "hot arid sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
