page_title: Uvs Lake Basin
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Uvs Lake Basin / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: The Mongolian-Manchurian grassland region of the eastern Eurasian Steppe. Photographed in August 2002 near Kharkhorin (Harhorin), Övörkhangai, Mongolia.
context_page_description: Uvs Lake Basin is an endorheic basin located on the territorial border of Mongolia and Tuva, a republic of the Russian Federation. The basin is part of the Central Asian Internal Drainage Basin and is named after Uvs Lake, a large saline lake situated in the western part of its drainage basin and is one of the last remnants of the mammoth steppes. Uvs Lake is a shallow lake with an area of 3,350 km². Its entire basin, which includes several smaller lakes, is 70,000 km².
  Uvs Lake Basin may also refer to Ubsunur Hollow, which is the western part of the drainage basin, or to over 10,000 km² of protected areas covering the lake and its surroundings. The hollow forms the northern part of the Great Lakes Depression, which has a surface of over 100,000 km². The hollow, and most of the drainage basin, are situated in the Khövsgöl, Zavkhan and Uvs Provinces of north-western Mongolia, and the Mongun-Tayginsky, Ovyursky, Tes-Khemsky and Erzinsky Districts of southern Tuva.
  The basin is part of a combination of raised lands and hollows located throughout the Tannu-Ola and Altai mountainous regions.
context_section_description: The Hollow, located on the border between Mongolia and Russia, lies at the intersection of complex ecosystems. Its area is 10,688 km² (4,127 sq mi). The terrain includes glaciers,  taiga,  desert, alpine tundra,  sub alpine meadows, and  a vast mountain taiga areas. There are also forested steppes, treeless steppes, semi-arid deserts, and ever shifting sand dunes. It is a diversified natural habitat, producing an interaction of Euro-Siberian and Central Asian-Mongolian plant and animal life.
  Due to its location on the cusp of the Siberian and Central Asian-Mongolian terrains, the flora and fauna of the hollow exhibit a high biodiversity for mid-latitudes. Animal species that inhabit both mountains and tundra, such as the Siberian roe deer, and Altai snowcock, flourish here. The endangered snow leopard is also present, as well as taiga dwellers such as the Caspian red deer, lynx and wolverine. Steppe dwellers include the Mongolian lark, demoiselle crane and long-tailed Siberian squirrel. Desert inhabitants include the bustard and midday gerbil. The bird species alone number some 359. Since the hollow is a protected area, many ancient species extinct in other regions have found refuge here.
caption: Mongolian steppe
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