Бешаи Палангон (Beshai Palangon) Reserve is in

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

close to the Afghan border where the

Vakhsh River The Vakhsh ( Russian and Tajik: Вахш - ''Vaxsh'', fa, وخش), also known as the Surkhob (Сурхоб, سرخاب), in north-central Tajikistan, and the Kyzyl-Suu ( ky, Кызыл-Суу), in Kyrgyzstan, is a Central Asian river, and one o ...

and the

Panj River The Panj (russian: Пяндж; fa, رودخانه پنج) (; tg, Панҷ, پنج), traditionally known as the Ochus River and also known as ''Pyandzh'' (derived from its Russian name "Пяндж"), is a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river ...

join to form the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

. The reserve stretches over 40 km from the southwest to the northeast.

Description

The 460 km² reserve is described by the WWF as the most important nature reserve in Central Asia, because of its large size and ecological diversity. In addition it is very important for rare species of

tugay Tugay is a form of riparian forest or woodland associated with fluvial and floodplain areas in arid climates. These wetlands are subject to periodic inundation, and largely dependent on floods and groundwater rather than directly from rainfall ...

, or riparian forest, ecosystems. The highest elevations reach about 1,200 m above sea level.S. Manzoor Alam,Atiya Habeeb Kidwai: ''Regional Imperatives In Utilization And Management Of Resources : India And the USSR.'' Naurang Rai Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, India, 1987 The climate is continental and dry, the different habitats of Tigrovaya Balka comprise semideserts, savanna-like grasslands with pistachio trees and

vegetation with poplars, Russian silverberry and high grasses.

Fauna

The area was one of the last strongholds of the

Caspian tiger The Caspian tiger was a ''Panthera tigris tigris'' population native to eastern Turkey, northern Iran, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus around the Caspian Sea, Central Asia to northern Afghanistan, and the Xinjiang region in western China. Until the M ...

, whose tracks were seen in the reserve for the last time in 1953.Geptner, V.G., Sludskii, A. A., (1972) ''Mlekopitaiuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza.'' Vysšaia Škola, Moskva. (In Russian; English translation: Heptner, V.G.; Sludskii, A.A.; Bannikov, A.G.; (1992
''Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2: Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats).''
Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation, Washington DC). Pp. 95–202 As of today, Tigrovaya Balka is still home to the original main prey of the tiger, the rare Bactrian deer. Other larger species of the reserve include striped hyenas,

golden jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy ...

s, swamp cats,

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 ...

s, goitered gazelles, porcupines, the introduced nutrias,

gray wolves 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 un ...

, red foxes and in hills also

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 ...

Birds

The reserve has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports significant numbers of the populations of various bird species, either as residents, or as

overwintering Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activi ...

, breeding or passage migrants. These include

red-crested pochard The red-crested pochard (''Netta rufina'') is a large diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek language, Greek ''Netta'' "duck", and Latin ''rufina'', "golden-red" (from ''rufus'', "ruddy"). Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes a ...

pygmy cormorant The pygmy cormorant (''Microcarbo pygmaeus'') is a member of the Phalacrocoracidae (cormorant) family of seabirds. It breeds in south-eastern Europe and south-western Asia. It is partially migratory, with northern populations wintering further ...

saker falcon The saker falcon (''Falco cherrug'') is a large species of falcon. This species breeds from central Europe eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia ...

common coot The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...

common crane The common crane (''Grus grus''), also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane (''Grus virgo'') and the Siberian ...

s, pale-backed pigeons,

pallid scops-owl The pallid scops owl (''Otus brucei'') is a small scops owl ranging from the Middle East to west and central Asia, sometimes called the striated scops owl. Description The pallid scops owl is a small-eared owl similar in appearance to the Eurasi ...

s, Egyptian nightjars, white-winged woodpeckers,

brown-necked raven The brown-necked raven (''Corvus ruficollis'') is a larger bird (52–56 cm in length) than the carrion crow though not as large as the common raven. It has similar proportions to the common raven but the bill is not so large or deep and th ...

great tit The great tit (''Parus major'') is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of North Af ...

desert lark The desert lark (''Ammomanes deserti'') breeds in deserts and semi-deserts from Morocco to western India. It has a very wide distribution and faces no obvious threats, and surveys have shown that it is slowly increasing in numbers as it expands ...

s, streaked scrub-warblers,

Sykes's warbler Sykes's warbler (''Iduna rama'') is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler family. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the booted warbler, but is now considered a full species. Its breeding range is from northeast Arabia to Turkestan, ...

s, Asian desert warblers,

saxaul sparrow The saxaul sparrow (''Passer ammodendri'') is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in parts of Central Asia. At and , it is among the larger sparrows. Both sexes have plumage ranging from dull grey to sandy brown, and pale b ...

s and

desert finch The desert finch (''Rhodospiza obsoleta''), sometimes called Lichtenstein's desert finch, is a large brown true finch found in southern Eurasia. Its taxonomy is confused, and it has formerly been placed in ''Fringilla'', '' Bucanetes'', ''Cardu ...

es.{{cite web , url= http://www.birdlife.org , title= Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, accessdate=11 April 2013 , work= Important Bird Areas factsheet , publisher= BirdLife International , year= 2013

External links

Tigrovaya Balka auf whc.UNESCO.orgOffizielle Seite des Reservates (Tadschikisch)

References

Nature reserves in Tajikistan Khatlon Region Important Bird Areas of Tajikistan 1953 establishments in the Soviet Union