Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) along the Karakorum Highway, Kyrgyzstan Photograph by Celestial Mountains Tour Company   Palaearctic Montane Grasslands and Shrublands   45,600 square miles (118,000 square kilometers) -- about the size of Pennsylvania Vulnerable

· The Pamir Knot
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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The Pamir Knot

The Pamir is a high mountainous plateau that is sometimes described as a "knot" because it lies at the intersection of several of Asia's great mountain ranges: the Himalaya, the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, and the Tian Shan. This central location means that the plateau contains a great diversity of species, with representatives from several adjacent mountain regions.

Special Features

In addition to being located between so many different mountain ranges, the Pamir covers a broad range of elevations, which adds to its habitat diversity. Gravelly deserts at the lowest elevations give way to open steppe peppered with prickly cushion plants. These in turn give way to higher elevation communities of needle grass and fescue grass. The highest vegetation zone of the region is composed of alpine-sedge meadows. Go much higher and all you’ll see is bare rock and scree deposits (small, loose rock debris). In general the climate is cold--too cold to support forest. And it's primarily sunny and dry, with strong winds also inhibiting the growth of many plant species.

	Both male and female markhors have shaggy fur and remarkable horns that spiral out from their heads like corkscrews.

Wild Side

About 620 species of plants grow within the Pamir, most of them Central Asian species common to the Tibetan Plateau. Animal life varies somewhat from west to east because the eastern part of the region is colder and drier. In the east, you might spy brown-headed gulls wheeling in the sky, bar-headed geese poking along the shores of some of the region's high lakes, or snowcocks nesting on rocky hillsides. Throughout the region--especially in nature reserves--you have a chance of seeing Siberian ibex, wild sheep, wild goats, blue sheep, wild sheep called markhors, and marmots, as well as their predators: wolves and snow leopards. Brown bears also inhabit this ecoregion.

Cause for Concern

Overgrazing and fuelwood collection are causing desertification in some parts of this dry ecoregion. People also pose a threat in some of the region's protected areas. Taxkorgan Nature Reserve, for example, is not only home to many important wildlife species, but it is also home to 7,500 people and 70,000 domestic animals! The human residents hunt wild grazing animals for meat and kill predators to protect their livestock.

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