The fauna of the region is diverse, which is explained by many factors. The main one is the intermediate geographical position of the region on the border of Europe and Asia. The diversity of landscapes allows animals with different ecological requirements for living conditions to live in a relatively small area. In this regard, in the Stavropol region it is customary to distinguish the following faunal complexes: semi-desert, steppe, forest, mid-mountain, wetland and residential.

Semi-desert faunal complex. The extreme conditions of semi-desert landscapes determine the limited food resources for animals. This causes the relative poverty of the fauna and the overall low number of animals.

Of the invertebrates in the fauna of semi-deserts, a prominent place belongs to daytime predators from the order Bogomolov; Orthoptera are numerous: grasshopper, Moroccan locust, steppe cricket. Only here you can meet the sacred scarab - one of the types of dung beetles revered in Ancient Egypt. Of the other beetles, the July beetle is extremely numerous in some years. In semi-desert conditions, some rare species of invertebrates have also been preserved. These include the steppe rack from the order Orthoptera, as well as large poisonous arachnids - scorpion, Russian tarantula and carakut.

Reptiles have a wide variety of species. In sandy massifs, the main animal population is lizards. The most characteristic species are: roundhead-swifttail, long-eared roundhead and fast foot-and-mouth disease; Occasionally you can see the steppe agama. Only in sandy areas live sand and western boas - distant relatives of tropical boas and pythons. Here, scientists recently discovered a rather rare species - a lizard snake.

Closer to the northwest, where semi-desert manifestations weaken somewhat and the vegetation becomes more saturated, the composition of reptile species changes. The predominant species here are the striped lizard and the colorful foot-and-mouth disease; in Primanyche you can more often find the legless lizard, the yellow-bellied snake, as well as snakes such as the patterned snake and the yellow-bellied snake.

The species composition of semi-desert birds is extremely unique. In the sandy massifs, in the thickets of sweet clover, which grows in inter-barchan depressions, gray partridge is quite numerous. Exclusively in the Terek sandy massif, the very hidden White-whiskered Warbler lives in dense thickets. Typical species of semi-desert landscapes are the rare nocturnal bird, the avdotka, from the order Crane-like creatures, as well as a rare species of falcon, the steppe kestrel. Here, a population of large steppe eagle still remains in small numbers, and more often than in other regions of the region you can find such “Red Book” species as the bustard and little bustard. Most recently, the green bee-eater appeared nesting.

The western and northwestern parts of the semi-desert zone are characterized by a wide variety of larks. These are the field lark, gray lark, small lark and large steppe lark, or jubai, as well as the crested lark, which is found throughout the region. One of man’s best helpers in the fight against locusts, the pink starling, also lives here. Interesting are the wheatears that nest in rodent burrows: the dancer and the baldhead. Brightly colored birds—black-headed buntings—concentrate around rare scenes of tall grass and shrubs.

Common semi-desert mammals include numerous rodents and insectivores. The communities are dominated by the small ground squirrel, the large and small jerboa, the common emur, and the midday and crested gerbils. There are also tarbagan or ground hare, hairy jerboa, as well as a small long-eared hedgehog. Almost all of them are nocturnal. The giant mole rat, which lives in semi-desert areas, is included in the Red Book.

Of the most typical predators of the semi-desert, we should name the large fox, the corsac fox, which, unlike the common fox, which is widespread throughout the region, poorly adapts to the conditions of human economic activity. The wolf, which is widespread throughout the region, is also found here.

The forests of the Stavropol Territory in terms of the composition of their animal population are close to the broad-leaved forests of the European part of Russia. The forest faunal complex includes species common in other landscape provinces of the region. These are the Caucasian mole, white-breasted hedgehog, common fox, wolf, badger and some others. However, the bulk of the population consists of typical forest species.

Most of the biomass here, as in other parts of the landscape, is made up of invertebrates that live on plants and feed on green mass, as well as species that live in the soil. Among them there are many predatory species (ground beetles, little ones). Among them, first of all, we should mention the endemic of the Caucasus - the Caucasian ground beetle, as well as the Hungarian ground beetle; The purple ground beetle is numerous. Orthoptera are represented by different species of grasshoppers and locusts; Lepidoptera - pearlworts, noctuids, moths, hawkmoths, swallowtails. The most numerous species of butterflies are the great forest pearlwort, the urticaria, and the burdock; It is rare to see butterflies listed in the Red Book, such as swallowtail and mourning butterfly. In the forests there are many woodcutters or longhorned beetles, and borers that feed on wood.

The amphibian fauna is interesting. The forests are inhabited by the Asia Minor frog, the common newt.

Reptiles are few in number. Forest species include the legless spindle lizard, as well as the meadow Pontic lizard.

Birds are the most numerous group of animals in the forest. The bulk of the population consists of small passerine insectivorous and seed-insectivorous birds. The woodlands, as in all broad-leaved forests of the European continent, are dominated by the chaffinch. Great tit, blackbird, jay, song thrush and spotted woodpecker are numerous. Recently, new species have appeared in our forests - the green woodpecker, the Muscovy tit, and the common pika. Among the birds of prey, the common buzzard and goshawk nest in the forests. It is rare to see large predators such as the dwarf eagle, black kite, short-tailed snake eagle, etc. In the dense undergrowth of floodplain forests in the Kuma and Kuban valleys, the North Caucasian subspecies of the common pheasant is found, and in the Russian forest near Stavropol, a nest of a globally rare species - the black stork - was found .

Mammals are represented quite numerous: the Caucasian mole, forest and house mice, and the gray hamster. The Radde shrew lives in the foothill forests. A small animal lives in the treetops - the forest dormouse. In forests, more often than in other places, bats are found - representatives of the order Chiroptera: pointed-eared, long-eared and whiskered bats, lesser noctule.

One of the largest mammals in the forest is the wild boar. It usually lives alone or in small family groups. Another ungulate, the roe deer, also leads a similar lifestyle.

Among the forest predators, we should mention the pine and stone martens, and weasels. Not everyone gets to see a large wild forest cat. The forest or black polecat and lynx are also found in the foothill forests.

Within the Stavropol Territory there is a small area with a unique fauna - this is the outskirts of Kislovodsk. Here there is a mixture of European lowland and Caucasian mountain faunas, and therefore not only forest and steppe animals common to the region live, but also species common in the Caucasus mountains.

Of reptiles, this is a rock lizard.

The world of birds in these places is rich and diverse. Birds here include the mountain bunting, white-throated blackbird, spotted rock thrush, wood accentor, rock sparrow, cliff swallow and white-bellied swift. Large mountain predators feeding on carrion nest in the niches of the rocks: vulture, bearded vulture, griffon vulture and black vulture.

The fauna of the region's reservoirs is unique. Typical animals for them are fish, which are usually divided into two groups. The first includes species belonging to the Azov-Black Sea basin, the second - to the Caspian. Of these, the most common and numerous are: gudgeon, bleak, roach, rudd, bream, carp, silver crucian carp, river perch. There are sabrefish, pike, pike perch, roach, kutum, common catfish, etc. The lake frog is found everywhere in the reservoirs of the region.

Reptiles are represented by three species - marsh turtle, common and water snakes. People often incorrectly call the water snake a “swamp viper.” However, snakes are not poisonous.

Birds of water bodies are represented by species not found in steppe and forest conditions. Among the passerines, the blackbird warbler lives in the reed-cattail thickets of reservoirs, whose loud, crackling song is especially often heard at night. Quite a lot of Hooded Crows and Common Cuckoos. Hooded crows are attracted to large colonial concentrations of gulls, waders and other birds of the wetland complex, the nests of which they destroy; Cuckoos are attracted here by the large number of warblers, which are the main food for their chicks. The dense thickets of reeds along the banks of reservoirs are inhabited by the North Caucasian pheasant.

The group of waterfowl is numerous. The most common species of Anseriformes is the mallard. It sticks to small overgrown ponds. In addition to her, gray duck, teal, and red-crested duck nest on them. Large, brightly colored shelduck and ogre ducks are ubiquitous. These birds are interesting because they nest in the holes of foxes and badgers.

There are many stork-like birds in all reservoirs of the Stavropol region. The most common species to be seen are gray and red herons, and less commonly, great and little egrets, as well as yellow herons and night herons. At night you can hear the long-drawn cry of a great bittern. At the same time, its close relative, the little bittern, is active during the day. In Primanyche there are rare ibises - spoonbill and ibis, listed in the Red Book.

The most notable birds of the ponds are gulls, terns and waders.

Laughing gulls, black-headed and gray gulls, as well as common and little terns form large colonial populations.

Feathered predators include the marsh harrier, which feeds on small mammals and birds, as well as the osprey and the white-tailed eagle.

Mammals are few in number. The water vole, or water rat, is found here. In the eastern regions, small isolated populations of the jungle cat, or Hausa, still exist.

Residential faunal complex. Animals adapted to the human environment (synanthropes) are widespread in the Stavropol Territory. Different types of landscapes differ in the characteristics of communities of synanthropic animals.

In forest-steppe landscapes, forest animals have mainly adapted to the conditions of human habitat. Birds include: spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, blackbird, chaffinch, amphibians - common tree frog, mammals - white-breasted hedgehog.

In residential complexes of steppe landscapes the following are most often found: goldfinch, crested lark, common starling, and oriole. Sometimes a long-eared hedgehog comes into gardens and vegetable gardens.

In semi-desert landscapes, the number of synanthropic animals is reduced. Only in the stormy steppes of the Terek-Kuma lowland can you find the black-breasted sparrow.

In the forest-steppes of the foothills, wild guests of humans are often the black redstart and the common squirrel.

Currently, 95% of the region's area has been developed by human economic activity; almost the entire territory is arable land or pastures. This led to a sharp decrease in the area of ​​natural habitats for animals.

Active human encroachment into nature has had a negative impact on animal species. Thus, animals such as the bison and the common deer have completely disappeared from the territory of the region. Encounters with a bear, lynx, and red deer have become rare.

At the same time, people contributed to the spread of certain species of animals in landscapes that were unusual for them. Artificial plantings in many places are inhabited by forest animals: forest pipit, goldfinch, oriole, wood mouse, etc.

The construction of ponds, canals and reservoirs led to the spread of wetland fauna. In areas of flooded soil around artificial reservoirs, dense thickets of reeds and other water-loving plants formed, in which pheasants, wild boars and roe deer began to settle.

Some new species of animals were brought to the territory of the region, for example, raccoon dog, muskrat, fallow deer.

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