The Gobi is the world”s fifth largest desert, and stretches from north to northwestern China and into parts of southern Mongolia. A land of climate extremes, temperatures can reach 122 degrees F in the summer and drop to -40 degrees F in the winter.
With only two to eight inches of rainfall annually, and in some years, no rain at all, life clings precariously on the edge. Windstorms are common, sweeping across the dunes and sun-bleached landscape, yet life does carry on, despite the desolation.
Despite the harsh conditions, many animals make the Gobi their home. A visitor can occasionally see black-tailed gazelles, marbled polecats, Bactrian camels, the Mongolian wild ass, sandplovers, and if one is very fortunate, the Gobi bear. The Gobi bear, sometimes called the “Mazaalai,” is the rarest bear in the world today.
In 2013, there were only 22 Gobi bears left in the wild. Considered a subspecies of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, the Gobi brown bear is also sometimes classified as a subspecies of the Tibetan blue bear based on morphological characteristics and is thought to be the relict, or remaining members of the blue bear that at one time ranged into the Gobi.
Now listed as critically endangered in the Mongolian Redbook of Endangered Species, the bear has been named a National Treasure of Mongolia.The Gobi bear has adapted to the low food availability and the severe environment of the desert. The bears are dependent on vegetation that requires precipitation for growth and fruiting, but extended droughts have affected the bear”s growth and reproductive success since the 1970s. The bears subsist primarily on shrubs, roots, berries, insects and the occasional rodent. They do not kill or scavenge other dead animal carcasses. This has proven to be a good thing for nomadic herdsmen in the area and has been a great plus in getting locals to help in protecting the bear.
Today, the remaining bear population is confined to three distinct regions in the Gobi. This has been useful to Rangers of the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area (GGSPA). Since 1990, supplemental feeding using pelleted feed composed of grains has been used to improve the nutritional status of the bears. Feeders are placed near the few springs in the area and feed supplied from March to April, when the bears come out of hibernation, and again in the fall.
Mongolia declared 2013 the Year of the Gobi bear in an effort to bring the plight of this rare animal to the world”s attention. If the world doesn”t take an interest in preserving this treasure, the Gobi bear will end up going the way of the Przewalski”s horse that went missing in the Mongolian desert in the 1960s. It was only through the breeding efforts of zoos around the world that the population was brought back up to the mere 200 that roam the desert today.
There are no Gobi bears in captivity. The two dozen or so remaining in the world are roaming wild in the desert of Mongolia, watched over by researchers, tagged and collared, but left to their own devices. Will they continue to trek through the barren landscape and rocks, or will their footprints end up being pictures in books and on web pages?
Source: DigitalJournal.com
