Zorkul Nature Reserve is a 1610 km²

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 south-eastern Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in eastern

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

, adjoining the border with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

’s

Wakhan District Wakhan District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan Province in eastern Afghanistan. The district has a border with neighboring Tajikistan in the north, Xinjiang in China to the east, and Pakistan to the south (specifically Gilgit-Baltistan a ...

. The area was made a zakaznik in 1972 for the conservation of

bar-headed geese The bar-headed goose (''Anser indicus'') is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It ...

and upgraded to a full nature reserve in 2000. It has also been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA).

Description

The reserve occupies a wide valley 320 km east of the provincial capital of Khorugh, lying between the southern Alichur and Vahan ridges of the eastern

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...

s at 4000–5460 m above sea level. The landscape consists mainly of gentle slopes of sparsely vegetated

alpine steppe The Alpine-steppe is a high altitude natural alpine grassland, which is a part of the Montane grasslands and shrublands biome. Alpine-steppes are unique ecosystems found throughout the world, especially in Asia, where they make up 38.9% of the to ...

. The core of the reserve is the 3900 ha

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

Zorkul Zorkul ( ps, زارکول; tg, Зоркӯл, Zārkul) is a lake in the Pamir Mountains that runs along the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Geography Lake Zorkul extends east to west for about 25 km. The Afghanistan–Tajikist ...

lake at an altitude of 4125 m. The maximum depth of the lake is 6 m. Its surface is covered by vegetation. Bar-headed geese and other

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

breed on islands in the lake. Although land use in the reserve is prohibited, its surrounds are used as

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 ...

Fauna

As well as for bar-headed geese, with up to 125 breeding pairs using the site, the reserve was classified as an IBA because it supports significant numbers of the populations of several other 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 Tibetan snowcocks,

Himalayan snowcock The Himalayan snowcock (''Tetraogallus himalayensis'') is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae found across the Himalayan ranges and parts of the adjoining Pamir range of Asia. It is found on alpine pastures and on steep rocky cliffs wh ...

ruddy shelduck The ruddy shelduck (''Tadorna ferruginea''), known in India as the Brahminy duck, is a member of the family Anatidae. It is a distinctive waterfowl, in length with a wingspan of . It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the ...

s, saker falcons, Himalayan vultures, lesser sand plovers,

brown-headed gull The brown-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus'') is a small gull which breeds in the high plateaus of central Asia from Tajikistan to Ordos in Inner Mongolia. It is migratory, wintering on the coasts and large inland lakes of the India ...

s, yellow-billed choughs,

Hume's lark Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in south-central Asia from Iran and Kazakhstan to China. Taxonomy and systematics The name commemorates the British naturalist Allan ...

s, white-winged redstarts, white-winged snowfinches, rufous-streaked accentors,

brown accentor The brown accentor (''Prunella fulvescens'') is a species of bird in the family Prunellidae. It is found in Afghanistan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Its natural habitat ...

s, black-headed mountain finches, Caucasian great rosefinches and red-fronted rosefinches. Mammals found in the area include

long-tailed marmot The long-tailed marmot (''Marmota caudata'') or golden marmot is a marmot species in the family Sciuridae. It occurs in mountainous regions in the central parts of Asia where it lives in open or lightly wooded habitats, often among rocks where dw ...

s, juniper voles,

silver mountain vole The silver mountain vole (''Alticola argentatus'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. They are distinguished by their silver-grey pelage, long vibrissae, rootless hypsodont molars and angular skull shape. Like many mammals of the E ...

tolai hare The tolai hare (''Lepus tolai'') is a species of hare native to Central Asia, Mongolia, and Northern and Central China. It inhabits semi-desert, steppes, rocky habitats, and forest meadows. It is relatively common, even in areas with heavy hu ...

Royle's pika Royle's pika (''Ochotona roylei''), also called the Himalayan mouse hare or hui shutu, is a species of pika. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Description The most common pika species in the Himalayas, it has a length of ...

s, Marco Polo sheep. Siberian ibex, snow leopards, Eurasian lynx, Pallas's cats, grey wolves,

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 ...

es, Turkmenian weasels, stoats and

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

s. The two fish species found in the lake are the

false osman The false osman (''Schizopygopsis stoliczkai'') is an Asian cyprinid freshwater fish living in the highlands of Afghanistan, southwestern China, Iran, northern India, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.Kustareva, L.A., and A.M. Naseka (2015). Fis ...

and the

Sattar snowtrout Sattar snowtrout (''Schizothorax curvifrons'') is a species of cyprinid native to the highlands of south-central Asia from Iran to China where it can be found in most types of freshwater habitats. This species can reach a length of TL and a we ...

. No

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s or

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s have been recorded.

References

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