Mountain Kalamaili Ungulate Nature Reserve (''Kalamaili'' means "black earth" in
Kazakh, ), also spelled Kalamely Nature Reserve, is a
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
in
Xinjiang Autonomous Region
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
of China, targeting in preserving the wildlife and natural vegetations in the arid
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, ...
ecosystem. As one of the largest nature reserves in China, established in April 1982, it stretches from the
Ulungur River
The Ulungur River / Urungu River or Urungu ( mn, Өрөнгө гол, translit=Öröngö Gol, zh, c=乌伦古河, p=Wūlúngǔ hé), in its upper reaches in Mongolia known as the Bulgan River ( mn, Булган гол), is a river of China and ...
in the north, across the heart of
Dzungarian Basin
The Junggar Basin () is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in the northwest, the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the northeast, and the Tian Sh ...
, and reaches to the northern extension of
Tianshan Mountains
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
in the south, covering an area of more than .
In February 2019, the Kalamely Nature Reserve was listed as a state-level nature reserve in China.
Wildlife
Kalamaili Nature Reserve harbors many symbolic species in its arid steppe landscape.
Mongolian wild ass
The Mongolian wild ass (''Equus hemionus hemionus''), also known as Mongolian khulan, is the nominate subspecies of the onager. It is found in southern Mongolia and northern China. It was previously found in eastern Kazakhstan and southern Siberi ...
(''Equus hemionus hemionus''),
goitered gazelle (''Gazella subgutturosa''),
Eurasian wolf
The Eurasian wolf (''Canis lupus lupus''), also known as the common wolf,Mech, L. David (1981), ''The Wolf: The Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species'', University of Minnesota Press, p. 354, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to Euro ...
(''Canis lupus lupus''),
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 ...
(''Vulpes vulpes'') are the common ungulate and carnivorous inhabitants. A recent survey showed there were 3128 to 4711 wild asses and 11366 to 16235 goitered gazelles living in Kalamaili.
Argali sheep (''Ovis ammon'') and
Bactrian camel
The Bactrian camel (''Camelus bactrianus''), also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped drom ...
(''Camelus bactrianus'') are also reported but very rare.
Przewalski's horse
Przewalski's horse (, , (Пржевальский ), ) (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of Ce ...
(''Equus ferus przewalskii'') has been reintroduced to Kalamaili by Xinjiang Forestry Department since 2001. After initial difficulties, the population is now is distributed in the center of the reserve, at the western part of Mt. Kalamaili. The stabilized and healthy population breeds and grows in the wild each year. By the end of 2010, the population reached to 70 individuals (''5
harem
Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...
groups and 1 to 2
bachelor
A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". ().
Etymo ...
groups''). Kalamaili Nature Reserve, Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Center,
Beijing Forestry University
Beijing Forestry University (BFU/BJFU, ) is a public university located at Haidian District of Beijing, China.Home
Beijing Forestry University. Ret ...
, the
National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
have been monitoring this population for many years and conducting a series of extensive researches on the population dynamics, behaviors, physiology, genetics, and conservation.
Local community
Kazakh people
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts ...
have been using Kalamaili as their traditional winter
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
as part of their culture. Every fall before the snow, Kazakh nomads herd their livestock—mostly sheep, camels and horses—from the summer pastures in the alpine meadow of
Altai Mountain down to the southern Kalamaili, where winter is milder and snow cover is thinner. They stay in their winter tent and fence the livestock in a pen surrounded by fecal brick walls. When snow is gone (normally around late March to April) they leave Kalamaili and go back to their summer pastures. Although Chinese government is conducting the
nomadic pastoralists settlement project in Xinjiang by building houses, fixed pens, and other public facilities, there is still a big proportion of Kazakh herdsmen keeping this
nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
ic tradition.
See also
*
Przewalski's horse
Przewalski's horse (, , (Пржевальский ), ) (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of Ce ...
*
Kalamely Mountain
Kalamely Mountain (, "Kalamely" means "black earth" in Kazakh), also spelled Kalamaili Mountain, is a low mountain range running east–west with an elevation of only 800-1473 meters in China, located on the eastern edge of the Junggar Basin in ...
*
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
References
{{Reflist
Geography of Xinjiang
Nature reserves in China