The Western Caucasus is a western region of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

in Southern Russia, extending from the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

to Mount Elbrus.

World Heritage Site

European bison on stamp Russia West Caucasus 2006

The Western Caucasus includes a natural

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

comprising the extreme western edge of the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

. As stated by the UNESCO specialists, it is the only large mountain area in Europe that has not experienced significant human impact. Its

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are exceptionally varied for such a small area, ranging from

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

s to

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s. The site is situated 50 km to the north from the Russian resort of Sochi.

Biosphere Reserve

The Western Caucasus also contains the

Caucasus Nature Reserve Caucasus Nature Reserve (russian: Кавказский государственный природный биосферный заповедник имени Х. Г. Шапошникова) (also Caucasus, or Kavkasky) is a Russian 'zapovednik' (st ...

(

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Кавказский государственный природный биосферный заповедник),

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 ...

(

IUCN management category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is par ...

Ia ) set up by the Soviet government in

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of ...

, Adygea and

Karachay–Cherkessia The Karachay-Cherkess Republic (russian: Карача́ево-Черке́сская Респу́блика, ''Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika''; krc, Къарачай-Черкес Республика, ''Qaraçay-Çerkes Respublika''; Cir ...

in 1924 to preserve some 85 m-high specimens of the

Nordmann Fir ''Abies nordmanniana'', the Nordmann fir or Caucasian fir, is a fir indigenous to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia and the Russian Caucasus. It occurs at altitudes of 900–2,200 m on mountains with precipi ...

(''Abies nordmanniana''), thought to be the tallest trees in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and a unique forest formed by

English Yew ''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family Taxaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe (including Britain and Ireland), northwest Africa, northern Iran, and southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain ...

(''Taxus baccata'') and

European Box ''Buxus sempervirens'', the common box, European box, or boxwood, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Buxus'', native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from southern England south to northern Morocco ...

(''Buxus sempervirens'') within the city of Sochi. About a third of its high mountain species of plants are recognized as

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

. The area also includes the

Sochi National Park Sochi National Park (russian: Сочинский национальный парк, also Sochinsky National Park) is Russia's oldest national park, established on May 5, 1983. It is located in the Western Caucasus, near the city of Sochi, in South ...

(IUCN management category II). The Western Caucasus is also the place of origin and of reintroduction of the

Caucasian Wisent The Caucasian wisent (''Bison bonasus caucasicus'') or dombay (''домбай'') was a subspecies of European bison that inhabited the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe. Description Little is known about morphological details of this subspe ...

. The last wild wisent in the world was killed by poachers here in 1927. Wisents partly interbred with

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply Bubalina, buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongs ...

were reintroduced several decades later.

Persian leopard reintroduction

In 2009, a

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, ...

reintroduction centre was created in

, where two male leopards from

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 ...

are being kept since September 2009, and two females from Iran since May 2010. Their descendants will be released into the wild in the Biosphere Reserve. A pair of leopards were brought to the Sochi park in 2012 from the

Lisbon Zoo Lisbon Zoo (Jardim Zoologico de Lisboa) is a zoological garden in Lisbon, Portugal. It was founded in 1884. The zoo was originally located in the park of São Sebastião da Pedreira. The zoo moved once in 1894 and once again in 1905 to it curr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. In July 2013, the pair had a

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups ...

, the first Persian Leopard cubs known to be born in Russia in 50 years. The cubs will be released into the wild after learning survival skills from their parents, according to Natalia Dronova, the WWF-Russia species coordinator.

Gallery

File:RitsaMounts.jpg, Lake Ritsa. File:Массив Ачешбок, Адыгея, Acheshbok, Adygea, Caucasus.jpg, Acheshbok massif. File:Мистический каньон реки Ходзь в тумане, юг парка Тхач, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Khodz river headwaters. File:Рассвет в долине реки Ходзь, туман, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Early dawn in Khodz river canyon. File:Bolshoy Tkhach, Куэсты Тхач в облаках, вид с горы Асбестная, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Tkhach mountain in clouds. File:Acheshbok, Куэсты Ачешбок в облаках, вид с подножья горы Асбестная, Западный Кавказ.jpg, Acheshbok mountain in clouds. File:Acheshbok, Южные отроги горы Ачешбок на закате, драматичные погодные условия, горы Западного Кавказа.jpg, Southern slopes of Acheshbok.

References

External links

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Western Caucasus
a
Natural Heritage Protection FundCaucasian Reserve Website
{{World Heritage Sites in Russia, state=uncollapsed + Mountain ranges of Russia Mountains of Krasnodar Krai Sochi Landforms of the Caucasus Forests of Russia Biosphere reserves of Russia World Heritage Sites in Russia Southern Russia