What is the steppe briefly. Explanatory Dictionary of Ephraim. Geographic location and types of steppes in Russia

The term "steppe" has a very broad meaning. From the point of view of geobotany, the steppe is a collective concept, uniting the herbaceous vegetation of the watershed spaces of a more or less dry nature.

Steppes can cover flat watersheds (here they are almost completely destroyed), slopes, hills. There are flat, hilly, mountainous steppes. But the most typical for each region are upland steppes, which occupy relatively flat watershed spaces. Usually, the main characteristic of the vegetation of a zone is given precisely for such steppes.

When moving from north to south, the appearance of the steppes in upland conditions reveals regular changes, the analysis of which makes it possible to distinguish several subzones of steppe vegetation.

Within forest-steppe zone on treeless watersheds in the past, forb-meadow Steppes were ubiquitous. We can now judge their composition by small islands of reserved steppes in the Central Black Earth region. Soils rich in humus and sufficient moisture contributed to the development of a high and dense grass cover here, creating continuous retention. In the herbage of these steppes, meadow-steppe forbs are especially abundant; in spring and early summer, it forms a bright, colorful carpet that changes color every now and then.

Among the grasses of this subzone, loose shrub and rhizomatous plants with relatively wide leaf blades predominate: coastal brome, meadow bluegrass, ground reed grass, steppe timothy grass. Of the feather grasses, only the most moisture-loving ones are found here, most often John's feather grass and narrow-leaved.

The forbs are dominated by meadow sage, tuberous gooseberry, meadowsweet, mountain clover, sandy sainfoin, forest anemone, mountain cutweed, sleep-grass, etc.

E. M. Lavrenko (1940) singled out two variants of forb-meadow steppes - northern and southern. A remarkable monument of the southern version of these steppes is the Streletskaya steppe under

Kursk, where V. V. Alekhin (1925) met up to 120 species in upland conditions on an area of 100 m 2, and 77 species per 1 m 2. summer, caused by alternating mass flowering of various types of herbs.

South of the forb-meadow steppes, a subzone of typical (or real) steppes extends. The vast majority of their herbage is made up of narrow-leaved turf grasses, mainly feather grass and fescue, which is why these steppes are called cereal, or feather grass. Among the feather grass, Lessing's feather grass and hairy feather grass predominate. In the south of Ukraine, in addition, Ukrainian feather grass is common, and in Northern Kazakhstan and Western Siberia- reddish feather grass.

Forbs in typical steppes play a subordinate role, as a result of which they are less bright and not as multicolored as more northern ones.

Turf perennial grasses that form the basis of the herbage typical steppes, never create a continuous sodding of the soil. Between the tufts of cereals there are always patches of bare soil, the area of which increases towards the south. The reason for the increasing thinning of the grass stand towards the south is the lack of moisture in the soils of the steppe zone. Herself root system turf grasses have an extensive network of very thin roots near the surface, capable of trapping the moisture of the most insignificant summer precipitation.

The proportion of grasses in the herbage of typical steppes is very high. According to B. A. Keller (1938), in the feather grass steppes of the Central Chernozem region, cereals give more than 90% total weight hay. In the fescue-feather grass association of the Askania-Nova reserve, their share ranges from 79 to. 98% of the total plant mass. Numerous ephemera and ephemeroids find shelter between tufts of cereals. These include the common stonefly, different kinds goose onions, brightly blooming Schrenk and Bieberstein tulips.

In the life of typical steppes great importance has an underground, root part of plants. In the upper soil horizons, complexly branched underground parts of the plant community are located. At the same time, the plant mass of the underground part is much higher than that of the aboveground. So, in the grassy steppes of Askania-Nova, 1 g of living aerial parts accounts for 8 to 30 g of root mass. According to the studies of M.S. Shalyt (1950), from 37 to 70% of the entire root mass is concentrated here at a depth of 0 to 12 cm. However, the depth of root penetration is not limited to the humus horizon. The roots of tap-rooted perennials in the Askania-Nova steppes (for example, such as pyrethrum yarrow, some sedges) penetrate to a depth of 1.5-2.5 m.

Typical steppes, in turn, are divided into two main variants. In the northern part of the subzone, on ordinary and southern chernozems, forb-fescue-feather grass steppes (“colorful feather grass”) are common. In these steppes, gradually decreasing northern forbs (meadowsweet, sleep-grass, mountain clover) mix with drought-resistant forbs (steppe and drooping sage, narrow-leaved peony, crescent-shaped alfalfa, prickly thorn grass, many-flowered headweed, real and Russian bedstraws, noble yarrow). There are still relatively few ephemeroids here.

The Starobelskaya steppe in the basin of the Seversky Donets, studied back in 1894 by G.I. Tanfilyev, is considered to be the reference plots of forb-fescue-feather grass steppes.

Fescue-feather grass steppes (“colorless feather grass”) are developed on dark chestnut soils and partly on southern chernozems. On the Russian Plain, they do not have a continuous distribution and consist of several arrays. But to the east of the Volga, and especially beyond the Urals, they stretch in a wide strip. The fescue and southern views feather grass. The forbs here are poor, very drought-resistant: hairy breast, Caspian ferula, fine-leaved yarrow, pyrethrum species. spring important role play ephemeroids - tulips and goose bows. Quite a lot in the band of fescue-feather grass steppes are solonetzes and solonetsous soils with fescue-wormwood and wormwood groups. The standard of the fescue-feather grass steppes of the Russian Plain is Askania-Nova. In other places to the west of the Volga, they practically did not survive anywhere. They have been preserved to the best extent in the Trans-Volga region, in the Southern Urals and in Kazakhstan.

To the east of the Volga, especially in Western Kazakhstan and the Trans-Urals, fescue (dry) steppes have developed. V. V. Ivanov (1958) considered them to be analogous to real turf-grass poor forb steppes.

The characteristic features of fescue steppes, which make it easy to distinguish them, are:

the undivided dominance of the fescue, which is joined by the feather grasses of tyrsa, Lessing, Sarepta, occupying a clearly subordinate position;
a sharp reduction in the role of forbs;
the disappearance from the herbage of the flat steppe of the usual steppe shrubs of the bean, spirea and chiliga and their isolation in depressions;
the appearance of xerophytic subshrubs (white wormwood, prostrate prostrate, millennial pyrethrum);
weak alkalinity of soils or even its complete absence(Ivanov, 1958, p. 29).

Fescue, like other more northern types of steppes, are now almost completely plowed up. It can be said that their typical plain variants have now completely disappeared. Their structure can now be judged either by the geobotanical descriptions of old authors, or by the miserable patches of these steppes that have been preserved near the slopes.

To the south of the steppe zone (practically already in the semi-desert on chestnut, less often on dark chestnut soils), a subzone of desert wormwood-fescue-feather grass steppes is distinguished. In the herbage of the subzone, in addition to narrow-leaved turf grasses (fescue, wheatgrass, feather grass), there are many drought-resistant subshrubs: wormwood, saltwort, prutnyak. The herbage here is usually open. Complexity, spotting of vegetation cover is characteristic.

Studying these steppes, back in 1907, N. A. Dimo and B. A. Keller (1907) introduced the concept of “semi-desert” into literature. Specifying it, Academician B. A. Keller (1923) wrote that semi-deserts should include “associations in which, with sparseness, short stature, and the like, along with steppe grasses - fescue, feather grass, thin-legged, such dry-loving semishrubs, like sea wormwood and cochia” (p. 147).

There was a lot of controversy regarding the allocation of a subzone of desert steppes or "steppe deserts". We mention them here only because the transition from steppes to deserts does not occur immediately, but gradually and sometimes surrounded by already real desert landscapes one can find steppe islands.

In general, when moving from north to south, the following regular changes in vegetation are observed, noted by VV Alekhin (1934) and his followers.

The herbage is thinning out more and more.
The brilliance of the steppes is greatly reduced, as the number of dicotyledonous plants is reduced.
In the north, perennials reign supreme, to the south, the role of annuals increases.
The number of broad-leaved grasses decreases, they are replaced by narrow-leaved ones.
There is a change in the types of feather grass - from large-turf to small-turf.
Species saturation decreases from 80 species per 1 m 2 in meadow steppes to 3-5 in desert steppes.
Becomes more and more arrhythmic seasonal dynamics vegetation cover of the steppe. To the south, the spring burst of flowering is shortened.
The relative mass of the underground parts of plants in comparison with the above-ground parts increases towards the south.

It remains to add that the appearance of the steppes changes not only from north to south, but also to no lesser extent from west to east. The reason for this is the already mentioned increase in continentality towards the center of Eurasia. Suffice it to say that in different sectors of the steppe belt there are growing different types feather grass (Ukrainian in the Black Sea region, red in Kazakhstan, Krylova in Khakassia, etc.).

Towards the center of the mainland, the species abundance of steppes is sharply reduced. So, in the meadow steppes of the Russian Plain, there are more than 200 species of grasses, in Western Siberia - 55-80, Khakassia - 40-50. The vegetation of the dry steppes of Askania-Nova in the Black Sea region is formed by 150 representatives of the grass cover, and in Khakassia - only 30-35 species.

However, on the basis of these comparisons, the inland steppes should not be considered depleted. It would be more correct to say that the European steppes are enriched with meadow herbs. We must judge the authenticity of the steppe by the participation in the grass cover of true steppe plants - xerophytes. Their share in the meadow steppes Southern Urals about 60%, and near Kursk - only 5-12%.

The greater typicality and, consequently, the increased stability of steppe ecosystems inside the mainland compared with the outskirts can also be judged by the degree of development of root phytomass, one of the main indicators of the adaptability of vegetation to steppe conditions. The root reserves of steppe plants are steadily increasing towards the east. According to Siberian ecologists and landscape experts, in relation to the local steppes, the notorious question does not arise: “... is the forest advancing on the steppe, or vice versa” (Titlyanova et al., 1983). The positions of the steppe vegetation, represented to the east of the Urals by typical xerophytes with thick turfs, exclude the advance of the forest on the steppes. The steppes of the Russian Plain, with moisture-loving European forbs, are not so resistant to the forest.

1. A vast treeless flat area in a dry climate zone, covered with grassy vegetation. 2. outdated. Desert.

Watch value steppe J. in other dictionaries

Steppe- and. step m. yuzhn. east treeless, and often waterless wasteland at a great distance, desert. Our steppes, in the south and in the east, are overgrown with feather grass, which is revered as belonging ........
Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Steppe- About the extent, the nature of the relief.
Boundless, boundless, roadless, endless, boundless, limitless, wavy, deep, boundless, immense,........
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Steppe- steppe, about the steppe, in the steppe, pl. steppes, steppes, w. A treeless and usually waterless area with a flat surface covered with grassy vegetation. Ukrainian steppes..........
Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

Steppe- -and; suggestion about the steppe, in the steppe; pl. genus. -hey, dat. -pyam; and. A vast, treeless, flat area in a dry climate zone with herbaceous vegetation and wildlife, ........
Explanatory Dictionary of Kuznetsov

Abai Steppe- intermountain basin between the ridge. Terektinsky and Kholzun, in Altai. Length 25 km, height approx. 1100 m. Most of it is plowed up.

Abakan Steppe- plain on the left bank of the river. Abakan and Yenisei. Altitude 200-500 m. Partially plowed up.
Big encyclopedic Dictionary

Aginskaya Steppe- in Transbaikalia, along the river. Aga (a tributary of the Onon River). Length approx. 100km. Height 600-900 m. Most of it is plowed up.
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Steppe-, a kind of landscape, characterized by the presence of vast open spaces overgrown with herbs. Steppes occupy vast areas earth's surface In Kazakhstan,........
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Balti Steppe- (Stepa Baltului - Stepa Baltului), gently undulating plain in the north of Moldova, in bass. R. Reut. Height 150-200 m. Almost completely plowed up.
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Hungry Steppe- the name of the city of Gulistan until 1922.
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Karshi Steppe- plain in Uzbekistan. Height approx. 500 m in the east and 200 m in the west. Part of the Karshi steppe is irrigated by the waters of the river. Kashkadarya. Cotton crops.
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Kurai Steppe- intermountain basin along the river. Chuya in Altai. Altitude 1500-1600m. Dry alpine steppes. The Chuya tract passes through the Kurai steppe.
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Nogai Steppe- a semi-desert territory in Ciscaucasia, between the Terek and Kuma rivers. Altitude up to 170 m in the west, in the east below sea level (up to 28 m). Winter pastures of the Nogai steppe are irrigated........
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Steppe- a type of biome common in the inland regions of the North and Southern hemispheres. It occupies vast areas in Eurasia, North America (prairies), South. America (pampas) ........
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Chui Steppe- intermountain basin in Altai, in upstream R. Chuya, at an altitude of 1750-2200 m. Length approx. 70 km. Semi-desert vegetation, meadows; pastures. The Chuya tract passes through the Chuya steppe.
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Aginskaya Steppe- Plain in East. Transbaikalia (Chita region), the river is drained. Aha - a tributary of the Onon (the source of the Amur). B. h. is covered with sandy sediments of the rivers, blown in places. Smaller h.........
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Baraba Steppe- (Baraba lowland), a lowland area in the south of Western Siberia, in the interfluve of the Ob and Irtysh, within the Novosibirsk and Omsk regions. Russia. In the north it merges with Vasyuganskaya ........
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Hungry Steppe- semi-desert plain on the left bank of the river. Syr Darya after its exit from the Ferghana Valley (Uzbekistan, South Kazakhstan). Pl. OK. 10 thousand km², height up to 385 m. Composed of loess-like loams ........
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Ishim Steppe- (Ishim Plain), southern part West Siberian Plain between the rivers Irtysh and Tobol (Kurgan, Tyumen, Omsk regions and the north of Kazakhstan). Length from north to south and ........
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Karshi Steppe- plain in Central Asia, at app. foothills of the Zeravshan and Gissar ranges (Uzbekistan). Gently inclined from east to west, height up to 500 m, b. h. covered with river sediments, on ........
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Kulunda Steppe- Kulunda steppe (Kulunda plain, Kulunda), southeast. part of the West Siberian Plain between the Ob and the Irtysh, in the Altai kr. Russia and the North-East of Kazakhstan..........
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Nogai Steppe- foothill plain in the southwest. h. Caspian lowland. between the Kuma and Terek rivers up to 170 m high, on the coast of the Caspian Sea it drops to -28 m (Kalmykia, Dagestan). Steppe........
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Hungry Steppe- Southern Hungry steppe, on the left bank of the Syr Darya; Uzbekistan. Traditional local name Mirzachul, where Mirza is from Uzbek. marza "border, border", chul "waterless steppe",........
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Steppe- grasslands of inland regions of temperate latitudes, a type of biome common in the North. and Yuzh. hemispheres. Has developed in the conditions will continue, hot summer and b. or m. cold ........
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Salskaya Steppe- plain on the left bank of the lower. Dona, bass. rivers Sal, Zap. Manych, Kagalnik and Eya, preim. in the Rostov region On the V. is limited to the rise. Ergeni, in the south smoothly passes into the Kuban-Priazovsky ........
Geographic Encyclopedia

Nogai Steppe- to Yu. Caspian lowland; Dagestan. The name is from the ethnonym Nogai - a Turkic-speaking people living in Ciscaucasia from Karachay-Cherkessia to Dagestan; this steppe........
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Chui Steppe- intermountain basin to the southeast. Altai, between the Kuraisky and Yuzh.-Chuysky ridges (Republic of Altai). Length 70 km, height 1750–2200 m. river flows. Chuya, the right tributary of the Katun. Semi-desert,........
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“Steppe, yes steppe all around”, “Oh you, wide steppe”, “Dust, roads, steppe and fog”…. The words from these songs are the first thing that comes to mind when we try to imagine this endless plain. So what is the steppe, and why is it so dear to the Russian heart that so many folk tunes have been composed about it? Where are the steppes located, and how do the European steppes differ from the North American ones? What dangers can await us in the steppe and who lives there? You will learn about all this from the material below.

Steppe is a grassy plain in temperate and subtropical zones Northern and Southern hemispheres. The Eurasian steppe is located in temperate zone. Trees are found here only in river valleys, where there is enough moisture. Look at the photo of the steppe: this is the real kingdom of grasses, feather grass, bluegrass, fescue and other plants that form a continuous or almost continuous carpet. Nowadays, vast expanses of the steppes have been plowed under fields through which roads have been laid, and now large cities have grown on them.

Plants and animals in the steppe

Steppe plants are well adapted to heat and drought, they are distinguished by a grayish or gray-green color. Their leaves are usually thick, covered with a film-cuticle, sometimes curled up in dry weather to reduce evaporation. The roots of the steppe vegetation are tenacious and long. In spring, when there is most moisture, beautiful flowers bloom in the steppe.

Steppe plants belong to different species. These are legumes, and cereals, and other plants, which are usually combined into the concept of "forbs". Some herbs serve as good food for animals, while others are inedible. But numerous inhabitants of the steppes find their food there.

Stipe grasses are typical steppe plants. They belong to cereals, of which there are about 300 species. The inflorescence of the feather grass is a dense panicle, and its grain seeds are equipped with long pinnate awns. Thanks to this, they are perfectly carried by the wind, sink among other grasses and then burrow into the ground. In this they are helped by the sharp tip of the grain, which is simply screwed into the soil. So the feather grass spreads across the steppe.

Animals of the steppes are not only horses, which have long been domesticated, but also wild ungulate saigas. Hares live in the steppes, partridges nest, burrows dig and various rodents store food.

Cause of fires in the steppes

Although steppe fires spread very quickly, they are easier to extinguish than forest fires. The fact is that a grassroots forest fire can turn into a terrible horse fire, but in the steppe this is simply impossible, since there are no trees there. The main cause of fires in the steppes is human activity, and much less often - lightning. Far from all animals and birds have time to escape, and spring fires still destroy their nests, cubs and completely burn out the grass. Subsequently, the seeds are again carried by the winds to the soil, and life returns. But if the fire comes too often, the steppe can turn into a semi-desert.

North American steppe - prairie

Steppes and prairies are essentially the same thing, they are just located on different continents. The prairie is the North American steppe, it is rather arid, because it is located in the depths of the continent, and rocky mountains obscure it from precipitation from the west. Once upon a time, herds of bison grazed on these grassy expanses. Today they remain only in nature reserves and national parks, and the prairies have mostly been turned into fields where corn, wheat and other crops are grown.

The cowboys, about whom so many adventure films have been made and books written, were ordinary shepherds. Among them were many African Americans and Mexican Indians.

Prairie animals and plants

Often in the prairies you can see a group of mounds with a diameter of 120 cm and a height of 60 cm, around which there is no grass. These are settlements of prairie animals - prairie dogs, their voice really sounds like barking, but in fact they are rodents, related to squirrels. Dogs eat grass not only in order to get enough, but also in order to better view the surroundings. 32 prairie dogs eat in a day as much as one sheep, and 256 dogs - the daily ration of a cow.

The prairie plant buffalo grass is a grass common to these latitudes. It tolerates drought well, grows after the first rains and serves as food for bison.

Yucca - evergreen from the subfamily Agovaceae. It grows well in prairies, semi-deserts and deserts, withstanding both heat and winter cold. The fibers of one of its species - filamentous yucca - are added to cotton for the production of jeans. This makes the fabric more durable.

The Mexican hat, or columnar ratibida, grows on the prairie, wasteland, and along roads from Canada to Mexico. It is a very hardy plant that loves limestone-rich soils, but can grow in clayey areas and even slightly saline soils. And it got its name because of the shape of the flower with petals pointing down.

In past centuries, millions of bison, the closest relatives of bison, grazed on the expanses of the American prairies. But the prairies gradually turned into wheat and corn fields and pastures for cows, and bison were constantly hunted. And by the beginning of the 20th century. only 500 bison remained. Only then did people come to their senses and began to restore the number of these animals. Today there are several tens of thousands of bison.

In the 19th century pastures in the West were not fenced, and so herds from different ranches mixed with each other. Cows always had to be separated and driven into paddocks. This occupation required considerable skill, and later a competition appeared on its basis - rodeo. Cowboys, mounted on horseback, also drove cattle across the prairie to the nearest railroad stations. At times, this journey was long and dangerous. The heyday of the cowboy era was 1865-1885. Then railways covered the whole country, and long drives of cattle were a thing of the past. However, the cowboys still work on the ranch and hold rodeos.

In the temperate and subtropical zones of the two hemispheres, there are steppes - territories with a predominantly flat landscape. Steppes are widespread on all parts of the land, except for Antarctica. However, in recent times there is a gradual reduction in the area of the steppe zone due to active human activity.

Description of the natural zone of the Steppe

The vast natural complex of the Steppe is located between two intermediate zones: semi-desert and forest-steppe. It is a huge plain, completely covered with small shrubs and herbs. The exceptions are small forest belts near water bodies.

Rice. 1. Steppes occupy very large areas.

Far from all the treeless plain is a steppe. A similar relief and features of the flora, coupled with high humidity form a zone of swampy meadows, and the influence of low temperatures forms a different natural complex - the tundra.

The soil of the natural zone of the Steppe is represented by chernozem, in which the humus content is the greater, the further north the steppe is. With the advancement to the south, the soils begin to lose their fertility, the chernozem is replaced by chestnut soils with an admixture of salts.

Due to the high fertility of the steppe chernozem and the mild climate, the steppe often becomes a natural and economic zone. It is cultivated for growing a variety of horticultural and agricultural crops, taken to pastures for livestock.

What are the types of steppes

Depending on the characteristics of the vegetation of the steppe, there are:

Climate features

The geographical position of the steppe zone also determines its climate, which varies from temperate continental to sharp continental. Throughout the year, about 250-450 mm falls. atmospheric precipitation.

The main characteristic of all steppes without exception is aridity. Almost all summer is very sunny. Winters, as a rule, have little snow, but are windy, with frequent blizzards.

Another important detail of the climate is the sharp temperature drops day and night. Such fluctuations unite steppes with deserts.

Flora and fauna of the steppes

Per long years steppe plants evolved to adapt to the climate of this natural zone. To safely endure intense heat and prolonged drought, they have small, light-colored leaves that curl up under adverse conditions.

Since the steppes occupy very vast areas, vegetable world is diverse. The steppe zone is especially rich in all kinds of medicinal herbs and honey plants.

The fauna of the steppes is represented by small ungulates (saigas and antelopes), predators (steppe cats, wolves, foxes), all kinds of rodents (marmots, ground squirrels, jerboas) and an incredible variety of insects and reptiles.

Rice. 3. Steppe flora and fauna needs protection.

Unfortunately, as a result of human activity, the unique flora and fauna steppe zones is under great threat. In order to preserve this natural complex in its original form, nature reserves are being created all over the world, which set themselves far-reaching plans to save the gene pool of fauna and flora.

What have we learned?

The steppe zones are very extensive, and are found on all continents of our planet, with the exception of the ice-covered Antarctica. Distinctive features steppes are flat terrain, lack of trees and aridity. Due to the high fertility of the soil, this natural area used to grow many crops. However, due to human activity, the steppes are gradually disappearing from the face of the Earth. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to treat natural resources as carefully as possible.

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The widest flat expanses, a wild field overgrown with flowers and herbs - that's what the steppe is. These are hectares of endless land, breathing freedom, calcined by the summer heat, blown by all winds or frozen by the winter cold. Indented by riverbeds, free, like the soul of a Russian person, the wild steppe is sung in folk songs. She was admired, loved, cherished. AT modern world little unexploited space. The steppes were plowed and sown with wheat, oats, and rye. The same fields that have remained untouched or have been abandoned and re-covered with grass continue to fascinate at any time of the year.

What is the steppe in the geography of Russia? These are endless expanses that stretch from the westernmost Russian outskirts to Siberia, covering the territory up to Chernoy, Seas of Azov and the Caspian and reaching through the steppe strip carry their waters such major rivers like the Volga, Don, Ob and Dnieper. This is somewhere flat, somewhere slightly hilly, on which sometimes, here and there, there are small islands of trees.

The nature of the steppes is diverse. The steppe in spring is a huge territory covered with rich colors. A riot of colors, a real artist's palette - that's what the steppe is at this time of the year. Islands of bright red and purple violets, blue and lilac hyacinths, golden sparks of adonis, and all this in the midst of bright green grass. A little later, already at the beginning of June, this spring coloration is replaced by an equally bright palette of pores - the expanses are covered with blue forget-me-nots, red poppies, irises, yellow tansy, wild peonies. July is the time for purple sage to bloom. In the second half of summer, the steppe turns white, covered with glades of daisies, clover and meadowsweet. In the hot season, when the sun rises high and dries the earth, and rains are rare, the steppe looks like an endless scorched canvas. Here and there, among the faded stalks of cereal grasses, gray threads of feather grass flutter. When the hot sun finally “works” over the endless expanses, tumbleweed balls will roll along the faded, scorched, cracked earth. These are various plants linked together, forming a lump and moving across the expanse, spreading their seeds.

rich and animal world steppes. For him, what is the steppe? it harsh conditions residence, to which the inhabitants of the vast expanses are forced to adapt. Lives in the steppe a large number of rodents: ground squirrels, mole rats, jerboas, marmots, some They all build their burrows with numerous passages underground. Among ungulates there are various types of gazelles, antelopes. Not rare in the steppes and snakes. Predator birds are represented by the steppe eagles, kestrel, and harrier. In addition, bustards and various species of small birds such as larks live in the steppes. They live in the steppes and predatory wolves and jackals become especially dangerous in winter. When the steppe was still little mastered, there were frequent cases when wolf packs attacked a person.

The steppe is also found on other continents. However, there it has other names. In America it is the prairie, in Africa it is the savannah.