There is quite a strong stereotype about the Arctic as a region of cold and lifeless.Of course, this has nothing to do with the truth.The fauna of the Arctic is original and unique, and its amazing representatives play a crucial role in the life of our planet.
Arctic is unique in terms of its living animals.This region is of particular importance for biodiversity of our planet.Some kinds of its inhabitants are not found in any other point of the Earth.Animals inhabit the Arctic region is uneven, with the change of the natural zone changes dramatically the number of representatives of each species.If we take as an example the Taimyr and consider the characteristics of its fauna, is at a distance of 700 kilometers of its animal population density is different in several times in the more northern part is home to 7 times less than the birds and 14 times less than the beetles.
One of the noblest and most beautiful animals - reindeer - lives here.It is a basic value in a life of small peoples of the North, which provides milk, antlers, meat, skins - all of which can not survive without at temperatures typical for the region.Venison saves people from scurvy, provides vitamins and allows you to enjoy a full life.Most domesticated deer lives in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.
Musk oxen - large ungulates in the region.These herbivores in the Arctic are coevals of mammoths.They are well adapted to the harsh conditions: unpretentious food, covered with long hair.Today, muskoxen are listed as endangered.They live on the Taimyr Peninsula and Wrangel Island.
For many members of the fur-bearing animals first home is just the Arctic.Animals of the species - foxes, weasels, wolverines, arctic foxes and polar wolves - the basis of the fur trade to indigenous peoples.Are important and rodents: rabbits, hamsters, lemmings, are important elements of the food chain at all levels.
Animals Arctic marine mammals are well represented.They have long been considered a symbol of the region.Some species so far destroyed man.
Polar bears - the main symbol of the Arctic.Here there are 19 populations of this animal.Leading a semi-aquatic lifestyle, they multiply in the Franz Josef Land, Chukotka Cape Desire.
Another inhabitant of the local latitude - walrus, which is the main object of hunting Eskimos.It is home to whales and bowhead whales, and seals.Cetacean populations represented belugas, narwhals, bowhead and gray whales.
fish fauna includes 430 species, among which the majority of fishing (cod, herring, Scorpionfish, salmon, flounder, etc.).The warmest waters rich in plankton - the Barents Sea, which is the center of the Arctic fisheries.
The Arctic is home to half of all shorebirds planet.This seagull-kittiwakes, fulmars, Bering cormorants, guillemots, glaucous, thick-guillemots, Arctic terns.In the summer here 280 species of birds nest.
About 17% of all the monasteries of the Arctic - the insects, which form half of all species of the planet.Some species of beetles and flies these latitudes are able to live at temperatures of 60 degrees below zero.
Today, many Arctic animals are at risk due to global warming, which threatens them with starvation.In 2010, scientists announced that 17 species of animals in danger of extinction.Among them, polar bears, arctic foxes, four species of whales, musk oxen, walruses, seals and some seabirds.In addition, in 2012, it was recognized that the Russian Arctic is polluted with oil products, fuels and lubricants, more than in other states.This represents yet another threat to the ecological balance of the region.Some Arctic animals get sick and mutate.We need urgent measures to save them.
