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Fauna
Due
to its diverse habitats, its relatively mild climate, and the presence of
undisturbed areas, the zakasnik Pribaikalsky is rich in game resources.
According to annual inventories, the zakasnik provides habitat for 21 game
species and 6 other rare and endangered animal species. The latter include otter
(Lutra lutra) and 5 bird species: black stork (Ciconia nigra), big bittern (Botaurus
stellaris), whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus), osprey (Pandion haliaetus haliaetus),
and white-tailed eagle (Haliaetus albicilla albicilla).
Although many game animals are found
dispersed throughout the zakasnik, the river valleys, flood lands and peat lands
attract most of this fauna, and in particular the highly valued deer species
such as elk, Manchurian deer and roe deer. Hence, the major game habitats in the
zakasnik are described by river valleys.
The entire Malaya Sukhaya river
valley provides habitat for elk and Manchurian deer in both summer and winter.
The peat lands (kaltus) in the lower valley attract large numbers of wild
ungulates. In the upper reaches of the river basin, there are many stands of
cembra pine, providing excellent habitat for sable.
The Cheremshanka river valley
provides good habitat for elk and Manchurian deer, with a high density of roe
deer in its peat lands. Sable inhabits the river valley and along its
tributaries.
The Talanchanka river valley harbours only few elk, while Manchurian deer is
found from the middle part of the river down to the lake coast. Sable is found
along the river, its tributaries and various natural springs.
The Peschanka river valley, the
fauna of which is similar to Talanchanka river valley.
The flood lands along all the
Rossypnaya river provide habitat for Manchurian deer. Elk and roe deer are also
found. Sable populations thrive along tributaries and natural springs.
Most of lake Dukhoviye and its
environs contain swamps and peat lands, providing year-round habitat for elk and
Manchurian deer, and summer habitat for roe deer.
The Gorevaya river valley, provides
year-round habitat for elk and Manchurian deer, and summer habitat for roe deer.
The area from lake Kolok up to the
middle parts of the Bolshaya river consists mostly of peat lands. Elk and
Manchurian deer are found along the entire river valley, while roe deer is
mainly restricted to the environs of lake Kolok.
The valleys of the Itantsy,
Sergeevka and Priamaya rivers; the springs of Sukhoy and Pasmurny, the peat
lands, and the area to the north of Kolok all the way down along the Bolshaya
river provides good year-round habitat for elk, Manchurian deer and roe deer.
Sable is found along the rivers and springs.
The size of the deer populations is
mainly defined by the area of winter habitats, which are limited in its turn by
the height of snow cover and the availability of food in winter. The maximum
acceptable depth of snow cover for elk is 90 cm, for Manchurian deer 70 cm and
for roe deer 45 cm. In case of very high snow cover, animals tend to go further
down the lower parts of the river valleys. Hence the migration routes are
primarily determined by snow cover.
Brown bear
The master of the taiga - this is
the way a brown bear is called. This ravenous and strong wild animal is a main
character of many Siberian legents. A bear feeds on animal and vegetable food.
It feeds on cedar nuts, berries, rhizomes and juicy stalks. It looks for
chipmunks, mice and other small animals in their burrows, here and there it
kills animals of livestock, cuts wild ungulates, eats carrion. A bear is
shortsighted but it has a well developed sense of smell.
Meeting with the bear. When meeting
with the bear you need to be very careful, you had better hold your breath and
stand still where you are. If the bear leaves, do not prevent him. You shouldn’t
try to approach it or to pursue it in order to take photographs that you think
are rare. Never run away from a bear: it runs faster than a man and can catch up
with you in any case. If you see cubs somewhere it means that their mother-bear
is not far from them. Bear-cubs are curious and can try to play with a man.
Never linger over them, just run away. In case of your encounter do be resolute.
The bear is afraid of sharp sounds, shouts, noise, rumbling by metallic
mess-tins or pails. When you resolutely move towards the bear banging, for
instance, on the empty mess-tins at that, it usually leaves the man. The bear is
also afraid of smoke and fire.
Wolf
It is widespread on the territory of
the Pribaikalsky district. It is a strong, clever and beautiful beast known as a
formidable and harmful predator. Wolves feed on various large and medium-size
animals but nearly everywhere its main food is ungulates (roe deers, deers, elks
etc). Wolf hunting is permitted all the year round
Sable
Sable’s habitat is forests and
mountains of East Siberia. At present a sable is found throughout the taiga area
of Russia from the Urals up to the Pacific ocean. Owing to its beautiful, strong
and expensive fur a sable is called a tsar of wild furs - "soft gold". The
darker a sable is the more expensive its fur pelt is valued. The Barguzin sable
is the darkest of all known species and is particularly valued at international
fur auctions.
The sable is most active in the
morning and at night. It seldom rises up to tree crowns but more often keeps to
the ground in the thickets of low trees, amongst the stone heaps. It often lives
in cedar forests in upper reaches of mountain rivers.
Fox
In the Pribaikalsky district a fox is widespread nearly everywhere. It’s habitat
is thinned out woods, coppices, fields, river valleys. It feeds on various kinds
of food, but its main food is mouse-like rodents. A fox is a valuable game
fur-bearing animal. The pelt of a fox is used for making fur garment.
Otter
The otter’s habitat is of an
exclusively discrete nature. Due to its injurious extermination in the past and
worsened habitat its number is decreasing. The otter breeds in various water
bodies abundant in fish. It’s favorite place are banks of woodland streams with
never frozen polynias, shoals, steep banks. It keeps to the shores of the Baikal
and some other lakes.
Weasel
The weasel is the smallest
representative of marten family and predators in general. It dwells in the
varied areas everywhere where there are lots of mice, it is often found in the
fields, in haystacks, in household buildings and inhabitted places. Its
commercial value is insignificant.
Wildlife of Lake Baikal
Baikal seal
The only representative of mammals
is a seal. The otter is assumed to have got here from the Arctic Ocean along the
Yenisey and the Angara rivers in the glacial period, when the rivers were
covered with ice drawing over from the north. Some scientists do not exclude the
possibility of its migration along the Lena river, into which, as they suppose,
there was a flow from the Baikal.
The oldest age seals in the Baikal
live up to is known as 56 years for female seals and 52 for males. The average
weight of a seal is near 50 kg. When there is nothing to disturb it the seal
swims at the speed of 10-15 km/hour. A seal is able to sink as deep as 200 m.
Omul
It has been assumed that the omul
got into the Baikal relatively not long ago, probably, in the glacial or
post-glacial period. It got well used to new ecological niche and became Baikal.
In the Baikal it underwent significant changes and can be considered now an
endemic fish. It is found at the depth of 300-350 m.
Baikal big golomyanka
It is the most interesting and in
many respects unknown fish. Golomyankas, big and small, live in the Baikal only.
They are small in size – only 25 centimetres long, without scales, translucent.
They contain up to 35 % of highly vitaminized fat. It is an only viviparous fish
in these latitudes. The golomyanka is the most numerous fish in the Baikal, but
it does not form shoals and dwells apart in the whole water body, including
greater depths.
Baikal Epishura
It is the most numerous inhabitant
of the Baikal it plays an exclusive role in the substance circulation. Being a
main consumer of plankton algae it is capable to absorb bacterias and, thereby,
it serves as a biological filter ensuring the purity of Baikal waters.
White Owl
The white owl’s habitat is found all
over the republic. The white owl prefers half-open space. One can meet it in
fields, steppe, on lake shores and river banks, in swamps and woods. It avoids
completely open spaces and taiga. The white owl hunts for small prey like mice,
pica and small birds. Sometimes it attacks bigger animals like hare or grouse.
The white owl is a rare species. It migrates here from tundra zone in winter.
Big Bittern
Lives in the swampy valleys of big
rivers and along the Baikal shores it reaches the north. It feeds mainly on
frogs, tadpoles, fish and some larger insects. There is an entry on it in the
Red Book of Buryatia
Peregrine falcon
It is a rare nesting bird. It can be
found on coastal terraces of the Baikal with sparse vegetation, in the Chivyrkuy
Gulf, on the Svyatoy Nos (Holy Nose) Peninsula. A peregrine falcon preys on
birds of mainly medium size - pigeons, sea gulls, crows, snipes, various ducks.
In Russia a peregrine falcon is a widespread species, but it has become rare and
its number keeps on reducing. It is included in the Red Books of Russia and
Buryatia.
Crane
Its habitat is of a mosaic-insular
character. It is a migrant bird and lives in wide valleys, in steppes where
feather-grass and wormwood grow and along shingled sides and islets of open
lakes. The crane feeds chiefly on plant seeds, rarely on tadpoles, locust, and
various small insects.
Swan
The swans feed on ground
water-plants and various invertebrates. For nesting the swans choose large lakes
overgrown by vegetation as well as remote forest or flood-plain lakes.
Brown owl
Its habitats are fixed. It is a migrant but seldom met bird. Owl is an
inhabitant of coniferous forests and prefers high dark coniferous taiga. It
feeds on small animals: voles, shrews
Eagle
It is found as a migrant and nesting bird. These birds make their enormous nests
on top of a standing out large tree at forest edges and on high peaks. Their
food in the Baikal area is long-tailed gophers. It is a rare and endangered
species tending to further reduction of its number. It is found in the Red Books
of Russia and Buryatia
Bald eagle
Bald eagle makes its nest on tree tops, on shores of large water bodies far from
settlements. Its main food is fish, rodents; it does not neglect carrion. Bald
eagle is a very rare bird, it is found in the International Red Book, in the Red
Books of Russia and Buryatia.
Piebald Harrier
It breeds on fresh water bodies and
particularly prefers lake coasts densely overgrown by the reed, where they make
their nests. It feeds on small animalsl: rodents, birds, frogs and large insects.
It is a rare sporadically spread species.
Porzana pusilla
It lives on overgrown banks of
rivers and lakes, on marshes. It feeds on various water insects, worms, mollusks,
spiders.
Osprey
It feeds only on fish (2-3 kg a day),
namely: grayling, tymain. When its fish hunting is impeded because of nasty
weather or flood with turbid water the osprey hunts for different rodents:
gophers, voles, chipmunks, sometimes small birds, frogs. It is a very rare
nesting species, its number keeps on reducing. It is entered in the Red Books of
Russia and Buryatia.
Eagle-owl
For nesting it chooses dry ground in
the recesses and caves of mountain foots, in gorges, in forest ravines, on river
banks. The eagle-owl feeds mainly on rodents of small and medium sizes. It can
attack crows and rooks spending nights on the tree crowns, pigeons, partridges
and other birds.It can attack even sables, kolinskies. The eagle-owl is a very
rare, settled bird. In this and in number of foreign countries it is under
protection.
Black mallard
It is a rare migratory and nesting
bird. In the region its rare nests have been found in Chivyrkuy Gulf. The birds
keep to river mouths and open lakes. It is entered in the Red Book of Buryatia.
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