The Badhyz State Nature Reserve is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

(

zapovednik Zapovednik (russian: заповедник, plural , from the Russian , 'sacred, prohibited from disturbance, committed o protect committed o heritage; ) is an established term on the territory of the former Soviet Union for a protected area whi ...

) in south-western

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

that was established in 1941 and extends over in the

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

and

Akhal Province Ahal Region ( tk, Ahal welaýaty; from fa, آخال, Axāl) is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 939,700 (2005 e ...

s. It is located south of the

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "d ...

, and the

Tejen River The Hari River ( or prs, هری رود, translit=Harī Rōd; ps, د هري سیند) or Herat River is a river flowing from the mountains of central Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, where it forms the Tejend oasis and disappears in the Karakum Des ...

forms its western border.Kaczensky, P. and Linnell, J. D. C. (2014). Rapid assessment of the mammalian community of the Badhyz Ecosystem, Turkmenistan, October 2014. NINA Report 1148. Trondheim: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. Its landscape comprises solitary or groups of foothills, ranging in height from 20 to 200 m. The average annual precipitation of the reserve is about 280 mm, with a maximum of 420 mm and a minimum of 130 mm. Its short spring is followed by a long hot summer with 4–5 months of hot weather and little cooling winds. It also incorporates three wildlife sanctuaries (

zakaznik Zakaznik (russian: зака́зник, зака́зники, transliterated: ''zakaznik, zakazniki''; uk, singular: заказни́к or зака́зник; plural: заказники́ or зака́зники, transliterated: ''zakaznyk'', ''zak ...

), which were established in 1956: *

Çemenebit Sanctuary Çemenebit Sanctuary is a Protected areas of Turkmenistan, sanctuary (''zakaznik'') of Turkmenistan. It is part of Bathyz Nature Reserve. It was established as a watering place for Asiatic wild ass subspecies, the Turkmenian kulans (''Equus hemio ...

Gyzyljar Sanctuary Gyzyljar Sanctuary is a sanctuary (''zakaznik'') of Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, ...

* Pulhatyn Sanctuary

Fauna

The Badhyz State Nature Reserve is an important stronghold of the Asiatic wild ass (''Equus hemionus kulan''). It was once the last place where the Turkmenian wild ass was found. The wild ass population increased from 200, when the reserve was founded to 5000 animals. After a strong decline, there are now about 650 wild ass in the sanctuary.Moehlman, P. D. (ed). (2002). Equids: Zebra, Asses, and Horses. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan.'' IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group., Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Other

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...

s present in this protected area are

urial The urial ( ; ''Ovis vignei''), also known as the arkars or shapo, is a wild sheep native to Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Characteristics Urial males have large horns, curling outwards from the to ...

, goitered gazelle and

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

. Predators include

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

Persian leopard ''Panthera pardus tulliana'' is a leopard subspecies native to the Iranian Plateau and surrounding areas encompassing Turkey, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan. Since 2016, i ...

, striped hyena,

grey wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...

, and

Asiatic wildcat The Asiatic wildcat (''Felis lybica ornata''), also known as the Asian steppe wildcat and the Indian desert cat, is an African wildcat subspecies that occurs from the eastern Caspian Sea north to Kazakhstan, into western India, western China and ...

. The

Asiatic cheetah The Asiatic cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus venaticus'') is a critically endangered cheetah subspecies currently only surviving in Iran. It once occurred from the Arabian Peninsula and the Near East to the Caspian region, Transcaucasus, Kyzylkum D ...

also used to occur in the nature reserve. It has not been recorded in the region since the 1960s, and dispersal of individuals from neighbouring Iran is obstructed by the fenced border between the two countries.

References

*''National Program for the Protection of the Environment'', Ashgabat, 2002, pp. 149–151

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090609072344/http://natureprotection.gov.tm/reserve_tm.html * http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SitHTMDetails.asp&sid=22112&m=0 Nature reserves in Turkmenistan Protected areas established in 1941 World Heritage Tentative List {{Asia-protected-area-stub