Daurian steppe, Mongolia Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Georg SCHROEDER   Eastern Asia: China, northeastern Mongolia, and Russia Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands   80,700 square miles (208,900 square kilometers) -- about the size of Kansas Vulnerable

· Ducks of the Daurian
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Ducks of the Daurian

Visit this ecoregion during periods of migration and you’ll encounter tens of thousands of mallard ducks and other migratory birds feeding amid the grasses and wetlands of the Daurian Forest Steppe.

Special Features

The wetlands in this ecoregion comprise important habitat for many endangered and migrating birds, including six species of crane. These wetlands are also important migration stops for many geese and ducks.

	The white-naped crane, one of the world’s rarest cranes, breeds in eastern Mongolia, northern China, and adjacent areas in Russia. They nest in and near wetlands and hunt insects and small animals in nearby grasslands. When they migrate south, feeding stations in Japan allow people to feed the birds and help the small population to survive.

Wild Side

In the spring, 6,000 to 8,000 Mongolian gazelles, or zeren, migrate through the Daurian Forest Steppe to northern birthing grounds. Endangered Pallas’s cats emerge from their rocky dens at dusk to hunt rabbit-like pikas and other small mammals. Many crane species, including the white-naped, hooded, demoiselle, Siberian, and the rare red-necked crane, either migrate through the region or use it as a breeding ground. Daurian hedgehogs burrow and nest among the grasses of the steppe, while wolves prowl the birch forests at night.

Cause for Concern

Steppe areas in Mongolia, Russia, and China are at risk from grazing and more intensive agriculture. Road building and increasing human populations create fragmented landscapes that reduce the range of migrating mammals. Wetland conversion and river damming destroy the wetlands that the cranes, geese, and ducks of the ecoregion need to survive.

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