Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area is a nature reserve in Gobi desert

Gobi Desert

The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...

, situated in the southeastern part of Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

 at the border to China. A smiliar reserve in a drier part of the Gobi exists further to the east with Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area.

Landscape

The reserve has been established in 1975 and declared an International Biosphere Reserve in 1991. It comprises about 9000 sqkm of desert steppes, arid mountains, deserts and semi deserts. The temperatures can fall to -40°C in winter and rise to +40°C in the summer. Average snow cover lasts 97 days per year. There are low mountains in the east of the reserve and rolling hills in the west. The lowest parts are about 1000 m above sea level, the highest point is reached at the Chinese border at about 2840 m.

Fauna

The Przewalski horse, which was completely extinct in the wild has been reintroduced to the reserve. Other larger ungulates, which are found in the reserve are goitered gazelle

Goitered Gazelle

The Goitered, Black-tailed or Persian gazelle is a gazelle found in the north part of Azerbaijan, in a large area of central Asia, including part of Iran and southern west Pakistan in the western end of the range, as well as the Gobi desert...

, and Asiatic wild ass. Siberian ibex

Siberian Ibex

The Siberian Ibex or Common ibex is a species of ibex that lives in central and northern Asia. It has traditionally been treated as a subspecies of the Alpine Ibex, and whether it is specifically distinct from other ibex is still not entirely clear...

 are common in the mountains, whereas argali

Argali

The argali, or the mountain sheep is a wild sheep, which roams the highlands of Central Asia . It is the biggest wild sheep, standing at the shoulder, measuring long and weighing , with a maximum known weight of...

s have become rare. The main predator is the grey wolf. Snow leopard

Snow Leopard

The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...

s and lynx

Eurasian Lynx

The Eurasian lynx is a medium-sized cat native to European and Siberian forests, South Asia and East Asia. It is also known as the European lynx, common lynx, the northern lynx, and the Siberian or Russian lynx...

es are rare. Smaller carnivores are red fox

Red Fox

The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...

, corsac fox

Corsac Fox

The corsac fox , also known as the steppe fox, is a medium sized Asiatic fox species found throughout the central steppes of Asia. It is sometimes referred to as the "sand fox", but this terminology is confusing because two other species, the Tibetan sand fox and Rüppell's fox are also sometimes...

, wild cat

Wild cat

The wildcat is a small cat with several subspecies and a very broad distribution, found throughout most of Africa, Europe, and southwest and central Asia into India, China, and Mongolia. It is a hunter of small mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar or smaller size. Sometimes included is...

, and Pallas cat

Pallas Cat

Pallas's cat , also called Manul, is a small wild cat named after German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, who first described the species in 1776....

.

There are 110 families with nearly 60,000 heads of livestock in the reserve.