Bogdkhan Uul Reserve, Mongolia Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Hartmut JUNGIUS   Russia, Mongolia Boreal Forests/Taiga   77,400 square miles (200,500 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Virginia Vulnerable

· Forests of Moss
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Forests of Moss

Like a king with a jeweled cloak, the coniferous forests of this ecoregion are luxuriously draped with moss and lichens. Larch and pine are the most common trees found here—providing dense shelter for deer, sheep, and other mammals.

Special Features

This ecoregion encompasses the Yablanovii Mountain Range in Buryatia, Russia, extends west to the Dahurian Steppe, and dips southward into the Khentii Mountains in north-central Mongolia. Siberian taiga, Mongolian steppe, and high mountain vegetation appear to combine in these forests, which include larch, birch, cedar, pine, poplar, and fir trees.

	Trophy hunting for argali sheep has threatened its populations so severely that several conservation groups recently sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have the animal listed as endangered throughout its Asian habitat. This would prevent hunters from bringing hunted sheep into the United States.

Wild Side

The larger mammals of these forests are quite adapted to life in the high mountains. Roe deer, argali sheep, Mongolian gazelles, and the threatened ibex can all be spotted stepping sure-footedly through the steppe and conifer forests. Wild boar, steppe fox, badgers, marmots, and the threatened sable are smaller on average, but no less comfortable living amid the pines. The human inhabitants of this ecoregion are mainly nomadic herders.

Cause for Concern

One of this ecoregion’s native species--Przewalski's horse—is extinct in the wild. However, the species has been bred in zoos and private parks for the last 10 to 15 years. The horses are being reintroduced into Mongolia’s Hustain Nuruu National Park, located in Mongolia.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.