Status of Ungulates in Numrug Strictly Protected Area

Abstract

Numrug Strictly Protected Area (SPA) is aunique part of Mongolia’s protected areas system.Located in Dornod Aimag at the easternmost edgeof Mongolia, bordering China, it is considered tobe part of the Eastern Steppe region. However,Nomrog SPA is quite different from the rest of theEastern Steppe in topography, soils, vegetation, andwildlife. Nomrog SPA is the southern- and western-most reach of the Great Khinghan Mountains (mostof this range occurs in China), and it is also theonly part of this mountain range that receivesProtected Area status. Nomrog is one of the fewplaces in Mongolia where one can find Manchurianmoose (Alces alces cameloides) (Jia et al. 1994),and it is also suspected of harboring brown bear(Ursus arctos), lynx (Felis lynx), otter (Lutra lutra)and other Palearctic species normally associatedwith the northern taiga of Siberia. The area alsohas an unusual mix of Manchurian species,including a variety of birds such as the reedparrotbill (Paradoxornis heudei) and Mandarinduck (Aix galericulata), some of which reach theirwestern limits here and are found nowhere else inMongolia (Shardarsuren 1997)