Rare animals of the Tyumen region

Wild animals are not only objects of hunting and the economic basis of human existence from his first steps on our planet. Animals are part of our life, part of our history, inexhaustible springs of culture and art, numerous hobbies, scientific research, creativity and new discoveries. Communication with wild animals and the need to hunt them as the basis of one’s existence taught man the ability to observe, and the accumulation of many years of hunting experience gave rise to knowledge. Knowledge of the way of life, behavior, habits and habits of animals, in turn, taught a person to improve the choice of means in the constant and harsh struggle for his survival and obtaining food, to develop new qualities of character, to be able to stand up for himself when meeting with powerful predators, and to apply accumulated experience and hone your skills in various hunting techniques.

Animals are part of our soul... What great pleasure people get from watching the lives of animals! Don’t we stop when we accidentally see a hare jumping out onto the road or a fox mousing in a winter field? We regard each such meeting with living inhabitants of the wild as a meeting with a miracle. And it is not yet known whose heart is beating faster at this time - the hare or the person who saw him.

And what pleasure a person experiences when listening to a capercaillie song. Poetry and music, power and strength, courage and grace, perfection and charm, grace and beauty accompany every encounter with wild animals, delighting and surprising us. Be it the songs of a nightingale, lark, starling, or the mating behavior of a gray crane, ptarmigan, short-eared owl, tournaments and fights of wild boar, elk, roe deer, black grouse, foxes, falcons, goshawks. Doesn’t your heart tremble and your soul ache with sadness when a crane wedge floats by in the clear azure sky during Indian summer, flying to warmer lands, with farewell cries? Mutual affection between people and animals has long become a symbol of kindness and decency. How not to quote here the words of Henry Beston from his book “The House on the Edge”. “Man has lost contact with the nature of the planet, built his life on cunning and ingenuity, and therefore looks at animals through the lens of human knowledge, and it magnifies a feather or a hair, but distorts the image as a whole.”

In recent decades, due to the development of industry and agriculture, the development of new territories, the human influence on nature has become comprehensive, and for many of its objects irreversible and catastrophic.

But a particularly powerful blow fell on the animal population of forests, fields, and steppes in the 19th-20th centuries, when the pace of development of agriculture and industry increased, when the habitats of many animals changed unprecedentedly. This time is characterized by rapid land development - steppes are plowed up, forests are cut down, burned, swamps and lakes are drained, huge reservoirs, canals and ponds are created, surface and groundwater and soils are polluted by industrial and domestic wastewater, mineral fertilizers, and pesticides. All this leads not only to the physical destruction of animals, but also to the deterioration and destruction of their habitats. And this has a negative impact on almost all types of wild animals. And the sad list of extinct and endangered species is growing, including many valuable and wonderful animals. They die and die out, having lost the secret shelters where they bred their offspring for centuries, having lost the places where they found food. In recent decades, these factors have become the main reasons leading to a decline in their numbers. The last point in the fate of these animals is put by hunters, tourists - fishermen, lovers of outdoor recreation, who, and their number is constantly increasing, love not so much the forest as themselves in the forest, who do not have an elementary ethical culture in relation to our smaller friends and knowledge of the rules of conduct when “visiting” nature.

The fauna of the Tyumen region is experiencing significant “pressure” from human activity. Of the animals that have been especially “unlucky” recently, we can name the walrus, polar bear, all types of bats, forest-steppe ptarmigan, quail, curlew, white-eyed pochard, black-throated loon, white-headed duck, Siberian crane, black stork, and golden eagle. The number of many of them has sharply decreased. In the 70-80s. This list also included beluga whale, roe deer, wild reindeer, badger, great cormorant, gray partridge, white-tailed eagle, goshawk and sparrowhawk. A little earlier, even elk, sable, pine marten, river beaver, wild boar, Dalmatian pelican, and whooper swan fell into it, but thanks to timely measures taken, they avoided a sad fate.

Rare species include animals that are rare in their range, are not reducing their numbers, animals that live on the outskirts of the Tyumen region and visiting animals, whose stay within the region is not permanent.

I would like to talk in detail about such rare mammals as the walrus, flying squirrel, brown hare, and river beaver.

Walruses

Walruses are among the largest pinniped mammals. They are distributed throughout the shallow seas of the Arctic Ocean.

On average, the body length of walruses is 3-4 m, and their weight is about 1.5 tons. The most characteristic feature of these animals are powerful tusks, protruding above the gum by 0.5 m or more. They are used by males for decoration and help them climb onto ice floes.

The tusks are often thought to be used to scrape the seabed for shellfish, and they often end up broken and damaged in the process.

Walruses are clumsy in appearance, but they are capable of agile movements, both in water and on land. Their thick skin is covered with sparse, coarse red hair. Particularly striking are the coarse, thick, dense whiskers on the upper lip, arranged in several rows. They are very mobile and serve as organs of touch with which walruses probe for food at the bottom of the sea.

Walruses are not afraid of the cold: they do not freeze in icy water because their body is protected from cooling by a thick layer of subcutaneous fat. They lead a gregarious lifestyle, establishing rookeries on ice floes or on coastal fast ice. Here the walruses lie close to each other, sometimes climbing on top of their neighbors, and in this position they sleep soundly.

They see poorly, but have a good sense of touch and recognize by smell that danger is approaching. Walruses breed at least 5 years old and only once every 3-4 years. The female gives birth to one cub and feeds it for about a year until the fangs grow. In the Tyumen region it is distributed on the western coast of the Yamal Peninsula. The walrus has been under protection since 1956.

The flying squirrel is a rare, little-studied species of fauna in our region. The southern border of distribution runs through Yalutorovsk to the Southern Urals.

This small, very peculiar animal has adapted to gliding flight. Along its body there is a leathery membrane that expands in flight. This device helps the little parachutist escape in flight. This device helps the little parachutist get rid of the pursuit of his main enemy, the marten. The record jump of our common flying squirrel is about 50 meters. The dimensions of this squirrel are small: body length 14 -20 cm, weight about 140 g. She has very large black eyes on a small, blunt muzzle and rounded ears. The paws have sharp, steeply curved claws, allowing them to run deftly through trees.

The flying squirrel settles in dense forests in the hollows of old trees. She lines the inside of the hollow with dry moss, grass, and wool. Leads a nocturnal lifestyle. There is no hibernation, it’s just that in cold weather she rarely leaves her cozy home. The animal feeds on the buds of larches and birches. At the end of summer he likes to eat berries. But he almost never eats the seeds of coniferous trees. Makes small supplies for the winter. In May, the flying squirrel gives birth to 2-4 blind and naked cubs weighing 5-6 g.

Hare - hare

The hare is a large hare, a whole hare: up to 6 kg in weight. It is all brownish-gray, only the tail, or “flower,” is dazzlingly white below: this, like many animals, is a signal for its own, but when the hare lowers its tail, it is as if it has dissolved in the autumn grass, merging with a haystack. It's like he's wearing a camouflage robe. The hare has a lot of enemies: the fox, the wolf, the wolverine, and even birds of prey: owls, kites. True, it is not always easy to deal with an adult hare - he can fight back. Yes, this little coward knows how to fight for his life: he will fall over on his back and fight back with his powerful hind legs with long claws. A hare protects her cubs no worse than other animals, but for this she needs, perhaps, more courage than a wolf or lioness. The hare, of course, is saved by his legs, but it’s worth watching how he runs away, for example, from hounds. He rushes, spreads along the ground, laying his long ears back, and dogs rush after him with wild barking. The hare gains distance and begins to confuse the trail: it will jump back, then to the side, and then with a huge leap it will leave the trail and hide. He sits and calmly watches as the ferocious dogs solve his forest riddle. He only wiggles his ears and moves his nose. And it’s not for nothing that the hare’s eyes are “slanty” - he sees with them not only forward and to the sides, but even a little backward. The ears also turn in all directions - there is no need to turn your head in vain. So the hare sits quietly until he sees that it’s time to run away. This doesn't really look like cowardice.

The hare lives in warmer places and roosts right on the ground, and white hare in the Far North even dig holes.

The female hare brings from three to six bunnies. They will be born sighted, covered in fur - like a toy copy of an adult hare. Bunnies appear two or even four times a year: the very first - in early spring, at the end of March, and they are called "nastoviks", and the last - in late autumn - "deciduous ones". A hare's milk is very nutritious - it is 6 times fatter than cow's milk, so the bunny is full for 3-4 days. And after another 3-4 days, the bunnies can eat grass on their own. At first, they eat everything around them: to leave fewer traces, and then they’ll start jumping. They jump and leave the same exact mark as an adult hare, only smaller: a long trail from the hind legs in front, round tracks from the front legs behind. This is how hares walk. If you see such a trail, see where the hare galloped.

Beavers are very smart and quick-witted. They are known to be skilled dam builders. If the reservoir where beavers live is deep, then beavers do not need to build a dam. But if the reservoir is shallow, then beavers build dams. Around a fallen thick tree, beavers strengthen many branches and coat them with silt and clay. This is a long and painstaking task. The animals swim and dive well.

The entrance to the home is always located under water. These dwellings are so strong that even a bear cannot break them. Beavers are active at dusk and at night. The female bears cubs once a year (three to five cubs). Beavers live up to 30 years and weigh up to 25 kg.

The unparalleled hard work of beavers gave rise to many interesting beliefs and legends among ancient peoples. Among the local residents of the Khanty and Mansi, the beaver enjoyed special respect and veneration. “In the view of the Malososvinsk Khanty,” wrote V.N. Skalon (1951), “beavers are former people, a people or a tribe that turned into beavers to hide from persecution, or were converted as punishment. According to local legends, they, like people, run their own households, have knives, skis, sleds, visit each other, understand a person’s speech, know his thoughts, and in the tree stubs of beavers, the Mansi saw toys carved by animals for their children.” . Despite these beliefs, indigenous hunters on Konda and Sosva have long hunted beavers, but have shown exceptional restraint in doing so. V.N. Skalon, who devoted many years to studying the beaver, believes that the aborigines of the Urals had primitive “beaver farming,” which included certain forms of accounting, protection and hunting. According to his conclusion, the local peoples created an entire hunting system.

Beavers live in the river basins. Kondy, r. Malaya Sosva, r. Demyanki (in the Verkhne-Kondinsky reserve of republican significance and on the territory of the Malaya Sosva state reserve). An extremely rare species of TO fauna is the bowhead whale.

Bowhead whale (polar whale), marine mammal; length up to 21 m, weight up to 150 tons. The huge head of the whale occupies a third of its body and is separated from the body by a clearly visible neck. The general coloration of adults is dark, sometimes with a white throat. 350-400 whalebone plates (up to 4.5 m) are placed in the mouth. The plates in adults are black, in young ones they are gray.

The bowhead whale lives in the Arctic Ocean, Bering and Okhotsk seas. He navigates well among floating ice. Whales stay solitary and only occasionally gather several individuals together. They stay on the surface of the sea for 1-3 minutes, under water - up to 10 minutes (wounded whales can stay under water for up to an hour). Polar whales feed on tiny calanus crustaceans (3-4 mm), sometimes pteropods.

The reproduction of bowhead whales has been poorly studied. The female gives birth to one cub at 3-6 years of age. The young are born in the spring, reaching a length of 6-8 m by the year. Bowhead whales are endangered; their numbers have greatly decreased as a result of fishing; their fishing is prohibited. They are listed in the International Red Book.

Needless to say, the importance of protecting rare animals. Only timely measures to protect such valuable endangered animals as the river beaver, fur seal, elk, sable, sea otter, and a number of other species could make them now leading and promising hunting objects in our country.

It must be said that not only so-called useful species deserve protection. Humanity is obliged to solve a more complex problem - to preserve the entire population and nature of our planet with all the diversity of its flora and fauna. Zoological scientist Professor I.I. Puzanov (1938) wrote: “If some endangered forms of animals do not bring benefits to humans (and in some cases even bring some harm), a person who studies nature and its laws cannot come to terms with them final disappearance, on the one hand, because he had just begun, but was far from finishing their study, on the other hand, simply because they became for him monuments of primeval nature. They are subject to protection for the same reasons for which monuments of past culture and art have long been protected.”

The list of rare animals is growing, some animals are on the verge of extinction. This causes growing concern and obliges us to take special care and take urgent measures to protect and restore the numbers of these animals.

Currently in the Tyumen region there are four state reserves - Malaya Sosva (Sovetsky district), Yugansky (Beryozovsky and Surgutsky districts), Verkhne-Tazovsky (Krasnoselkupsky district), Gydansky, eight state zoological reserves of republican significance, twenty-eight state zoological reserves of regional significance.

Only on the territory of the Tyumen district are the Tyumen reserve of republican significance (southern outskirts of the Nizhnetavdinsky district), Chervishevsky (in the floodplain of the Pyshma river from the mouth of the Baldy river to the village of Onokhino), Uspensky (in the floodplain of the Pyshma river to the mouth of the Baldy river , forests and fields to the west of the Karmak River to the border with the Sverdlovsk Region, limited from the north by the Moscow Highway) and Dunovatsky (in the floodplain of the Duvan River, from its sources to the village of Mulashi and from it 5 km down the Pyshma). These reserves protect wild animals, game, river beaver, and moose.

In accordance with the regional law "On environmental protection in the Tyumen region", the Red Book of the Tyumen region has been published. It contains about 20 species of fungi, about 100 species of vertebrates and the same number of invertebrate animals. Its red pages depict species of which very few remain. They are under threat of destruction. The white pages depict species that are rare and could easily disappear from the face of the earth. On the yellow pages are those whose numbers are constantly decreasing. On the green ones are those that are being restored thanks to human care.

There are a number of provisions on nature conservation and environmental management “On the protection and use of wildlife”, “On specially protected natural areas”. Propaganda work among the population (posters, events...) is of great importance in the matter of nature conservation. We study the nature of our native land, go on excursions, visit a museum, read books, conduct quizzes, solve riddles, make up puzzles, rules of behavior in nature in order to know and preserve our native nature.