Animals that live in the mountains. Plants and animals living in the mountains: photos and descriptions of the nature of the mountains

Living conditions in the mountains are very different from those on the plains. As you ascend into the mountains, the climate changes rapidly: the temperature drops, the amount of precipitation increases, and the air becomes thinner. The nature of the vegetation also changes from the foot of the mountains to the peaks.

On some mountains Central Asia desert and steppe foothills are gradually replaced by forest; At first it is dominated by deciduous and then coniferous species. Higher up, the forest gives way to low-growing, subalpine crooked forests and thickets of bushes that curve down the slope. Alpine low-growing vegetation begins even higher, vaguely reminiscent of the vegetation of the northern tundra. The Alpine zone is directly bordered by snow fields, glaciers and rocks; there, among the stones, only rare grass and lichens are found (see article "").

Vegetation on the mountains changes over just a few thousand meters. This phenomenon is called vertical zoning. This change in vegetation is similar to the latitudinal zonation of nature on Earth: deserts and steppes are replaced by forests, forests by forest-tundra and tundra - but the latitudinal zones stretch over hundreds and thousands of kilometers.

Natural conditions in the mountains change not only with height, but also when moving from one slope to another, sometimes even to an adjacent section of the same slope, if it has a different position in relation to the cardinal points, a different steepness, or is otherwise open to the winds. All this creates an exceptional diversity of living conditions in areas of the mountains close to each other.

Diversity living conditions contributes to the fact that the mountains are inhabited by many species of animals. By number of mountain animal species forest zone the richest. The highlands are much poorer in them. The living conditions there are too harsh: even in summer, frosts are possible at night, the winds are stronger here, winter is longer, there is less food, and at very high altitudes the air is thin and there is little oxygen in it. The higher you go in the mountains, the fewer species animals - this is typical for most mountainous countries.

The most elevated parts of the high mountains are covered with eternal snow and are almost completely devoid of life. Only people live there small insects- Podurs, also called glacial fleas and. They feed on pollen coniferous trees, carried there by the wind.

They can go very high into the mountains - almost up to 6000 m mountain goats and rams. Of the vertebrate animals, only vultures and eagles penetrate above them, and occasionally other smaller birds fly in. In 1953, while climbing Chomolungma (Everest), climbers saw choughs - close relatives of our crows - at an altitude of 7900 m.

Some animals, such as crows and hares, are found in almost all mountain zones; Most animals live in only a few or even one zone. For example, bullfinches and yellow-headed wrens nest in the Caucasus Mountains only in the zone of dark coniferous forests formed by fir and spruce.

On the mountains, each vertical zone has its own fauna, somewhat similar to the fauna of the corresponding latitudinal zones Earth.

The tundra partridge lives on the northern coast of Siberia and on the Arctic islands, but is also found in the alpine zone of the mountains of Europe and Asia, where living conditions are most similar to the Arctic. In the alpine zone of the mountains there are also some other animals common in the Arctic, for example in the mountains Southern Siberia And East Asia reindeer live.

The fauna of the alpine zone is most unique, where many animals unknown on the plains are found: various types mountain goats (in Western Europe- stone ibex, in the Caucasus - tur, in the mountains of Asia - Siberian ibex), chamois, Asian red wolf, some rodents, vulture, mountain turkey, or snowcock, alpine jackdaw, etc.

Interestingly, the fauna of the alpine zone in Europe, Asia, North America and northern Africa is general outline homogeneous This is explained by the fact that in the highlands of different parts of the world living conditions are very similar.

Many mountain animals live only where there are rocks. Musk deer, mountain goats and goral antelope escape from predators in the rocks. The red-winged wallcreeper, rock pigeon and swift find convenient nesting sites there. Now on many mountains you can find argali and other wild sheep in the rocks. This is apparently caused by long-term pursuit of them by hunters. Where wild sheep are little disturbed, they prefer to live on relatively gentle slopes, and only bighorn sheep, or Chubuk, which lives in the mountains of Northeast Asia, has a lifestyle very similar to mountain goats.

Screes form in many mountains; The life of interesting animals is connected with them - the snow vole and the mountain pika (otherwise known as hay pika). These rodents prepare small piles of hay for winter. Starting from the second half of summer, especially in autumn, the animals diligently collect blades of grass and twigs of bushes with leaves, dry them and place them under a shelter of stones.

The unique living conditions in the mountains affected appearance animals, on their body shapes, their lifestyle and habits. Many generations of these animals lived in the mountains, and therefore they developed characteristic adaptations that help in the struggle for existence. For example, in mountain goats, chamois, American snow goat, bighorn sheep have large, mobile hooves that can move widely apart. Along the edges of the hooves - from the sides and in front - there is a well-defined protrusion (welt), and the pads of the toes are relatively soft. All this allows animals to cling to barely noticeable irregularities when moving along rocks and steep slopes, and not to slip when running on icy snow. The horny substance of their hooves is very strong and grows quickly, so the hooves never “wear out” from being abraded by sharp stones. The legs of mountain ungulates allow them to make strong jumps on steep slopes and quickly reach rocks where they can hide from persecution.

During the day, rising air currents predominate in the mountains. This favors the soaring flight of large birds - bearded vultures, large eagles and vultures. Soaring in the air, they search for carrion or live prey for a long time. Mountains are also characterized by birds with fast, swift flight: Caucasian mountain grouse, mountain turkey, and swift.

Strong winds constantly blow in the mountains. They make life difficult for flying insects. The wind often carries them to snow fields and glaciers - places unsuitable for insect life, where they die. As a result of long-term natural selection, insect species arose in the mountains with greatly shortened, underdeveloped wings and completely lost the ability for active flight. The closest relatives of these insects, living on the plains, are winged and can fly.

In the summer it is cold high in the mountains, so there are almost no reptiles there: after all, most of them are heat-loving. Higher than others penetrate the mountains viviparous species reptiles: some lizards, vipers, and in northern Africa - chameleons. In Tibet, at an altitude of more than 5000 m, the viviparous round-headed lizard is found. Roundheads living on the plains, where the climate is warmer, lay eggs.

On the plains, moth butterflies are active both at dusk and at night; in the highlands they lead a diurnal lifestyle: at night the air is too cold for them.

Some species of butterflies, bumblebees and wasps that live high in the mountains have dense pubescence on their bodies - this reduces heat loss. The lush plumage of mountain birds and the thick fur of animals also protects animals from the cold. For someone living on high mountains The Asian snow leopard has unusually long and lush fur, while its tropical relative, the leopard, has short and sparse fur. Animals living in the mountains shed much later in the spring than animals on the plains, and in the fall their fur begins to grow earlier.

One of the remarkable adaptations caused by living conditions in the mountains is vertical migrations, or migrations.

In autumn, when it gets cold high in the mountains, snowfalls begin and, most importantly, it becomes difficult to obtain food, many animals migrate lower down the mountain slopes.

A significant part of the birds living in the mountains of the Northern Hemisphere fly south for the winter. Of the birds that remain in the mountains for the winter, most descend to the lower zones, often to the very foothills and surrounding plains. Very few birds, such as the mountain turkey, winter at high altitudes.

Deer, roe deer and wild boar are found in the mountains up to the alpine meadows; in autumn they descend into the forest. This is also where most chamois go for the winter. Mountain goats migrate to the forested part of the mountains and settle here on steep rocky slopes. Sometimes they move to the southern slopes, where alpine meadows the snow melts in the very first hours or days after a snowfall, or on steeper windward slopes, where the snow is simply blown away by the winds. Following the wild ungulates, the predators that hunt them migrate - wolves, lynxes, snow leopards.

Diversity natural conditions in the mountains allows animals to find places for wintering near the areas where they live in the summer. Therefore, the seasonal migrations of animals in the mountains, as a rule, are much shorter than the migrations of animals and birds on the plains. In the Altai, Sayan and North-Eastern Siberia wild reindeer make seasonal migrations of only a few tens of kilometers, and deer living in the far north sometimes travel a thousand kilometers to reach their wintering grounds.

In the spring, as the snow melts, the animals that have descended migrate to the upper zones of the mountains. Among wild ungulates, adult males are the first to rise, followed by females with recently born, not yet strong enough babies.

Chamois, mountain goats, wild sheep and other ungulates living in the mountains often die in winter and early spring during snow avalanches. In the Alps in the winter of 1905-1906. one of snow avalanches A herd of chamois was buried - about 70 heads.

In the Caucasus Nature Reserve, it was possible to observe aurochs during heavy snowfall. Snow avalanches were falling from the opposite slope of the gorge. But the tours, usually very careful, did not pay attention to this. Apparently, they were accustomed to the menacing sounds of a snowfall.

When there is a lot of snow in the mountains, it is very difficult for the ungulates: it prevents them not only from moving, but also from getting food. In the mountains of the Western Caucasus in 1931 -1932. It was a very snowy winter. The layer of snow in some places exceeded 6 m. Many deer, roe deer and other animals migrated to the lower parts of the mountains, where the snow cover was less. This winter, roe deer ran into villages and were easily captured. They were caught and kept in barns along with livestock until the snow melted in the mountains.

At the end of December 1936, snowfall in the Caucasus Nature Reserve continued for four days. At the upper border of the forest, the layer of new loose snow reached a meter. The reserve's scientific staff went out to investigate the snow conditions and noticed a fresh, deep path leading down the slope. They skied along this trail and soon overtook a large auroch. Only a head with horns was visible from the snow.

The tour was so helpless that one of the employees could even take liberties in handling him - he sat down on wild tour on horseback! Another employee took a photograph of the scene. They helped Tur out of the snow and he left. The next day, his traces were found much lower - in the forest on a steep slope, where the aurochs could feed on lichens hanging from fir branches.

Some species of mountain animals have good hair and edible meat. They can be used for breeding with domestic animals. Conducted in the Soviet Union interesting experiments: aurochs and bezoar goats were crossed with domestic goats, argali and mouflons were crossed with domestic rams.

From mountain animals to different times and in different parts Around the world, man domesticated the goat, in Asia - the yak, in South America - the llama. The yak and llama are used in the mountains mainly for carrying loads; female yak produce very rich milk.

The animals of the mountains have not been studied enough; many interesting pages from their lives have not yet been read by anyone and await young inquisitive naturalists. The following nature reserves provide exceptional opportunities for observing the life of wild animals in the mountains: Caucasian, Crimean, Teberdinsky, Aksu-Dzhabaglinsky (Western Tien Shan), Sikhote-Alinsky and others (see article "").

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Living conditions in the mountains are very different from those on the plains. As you rise into the mountains, the climate changes: the temperature drops, the wind strength increases, the air becomes thinner, and winter becomes longer.
The nature of the vegetation from the foot of the mountains to the peaks is also different. In the mountains of Central Asia, desert and steppe foothills usually give way to forest, which is first dominated by deciduous and then coniferous species. Higher up there is low-growing, curved downslope subalpine forest and thickets of bushes. Alpine low-growing vegetation begins even higher, vaguely reminiscent of the vegetation of the northern tundra. The Alpine mountain belt is directly bordered by snow fields, glaciers and rocks; there, among the stones, only rare grass, moss and lichens are found.
The change of vegetation in the mountains occurs over just a few thousand meters, counting vertically. This phenomenon is called vertical zoning or zonation. This change in vegetation is in the most general terms similar to the latitudinal zonation of nature on Earth: deserts and steppes are replaced by forests, forests by forest-tundra and tundra.
Natural conditions in the mountains change not only with height, but also when moving from one slope to another. Sometimes even neighboring sections of the same slope have different natural conditions. It all depends on the position of the site in relation to the cardinal points, on its steepness and on how open it is to the winds.
The diversity of living conditions contributes to the fact that the mountains are inhabited by many species of animals. In terms of the number of species of mountain animals, the forest belt of the mountains is the richest. The highlands are much poorer in them. The living conditions there are too harsh: even in summer, frosts are possible at night, and there is little food. Therefore, the higher you go in the mountains, the fewer animal species there are usually. The most elevated parts of the high mountains are covered with eternal snow and are almost completely devoid of life.
Very high in the mountains - almost up to 6 thousand m - mountain goats and sheep come; Occasionally, a mountain leopard, the snow leopard, comes up here after them. Of the vertebrate animals, only vultures, eagles and some other birds penetrate even higher. The bearded vulture was seen in the Himalayas at an altitude of almost 7 thousand m, and the condor was seen in the Andes at an even higher altitude. When climbing Chomolungma (Everest), climbers observed choughs - close relatives of our crows - at an altitude of 8100 m.
Some animals, particularly crows and hares, are found in almost all mountain zones, but most species live in only a few or even one zone. For example, bullfinches and yellow-headed wrens nest in the Caucasus Mountains only in the belt of dark coniferous forests formed by fir and spruce.

Irbis or snow leopard.

On the mountains, each vertical zone has its own fauna, which is to some extent similar to the fauna of the corresponding latitudinal zones of the Earth. Animals of the mountain forest belt resemble animals deciduous forests and taiga.

Argali.

The tundra partridge, living on the northern coast of Siberia and on the Arctic islands, is also found in the alpine belt of the mountains of Europe and Asia, where living conditions are similar to the Arctic. Some other animals common in the Arctic also live in the alpine mountain belt: for example, reindeer live in the mountains of Southern Siberia and East Asia. The habitats of deer in Altai are located in most cases not lower than 1500 m above sea level, that is, mainly in the subalpine and alpine mountain belts, where moss and other terrestrial lichens grow in abundance. IN winter time when in reindeer's diet great value have reindeer moss and other lichens; the nature of the snow cover plays an important role in the choice of habitat. If the snow is too deep and dense, then ground lichens are inaccessible to deer. In winter, the treeless slopes of the mountains of the Alpine belt are most favorable for the life of deer, where the snow is blown away by the winds, and in clear days melts in the sun.
The fauna of the Alpine belt is very peculiar, where many animals unknown on the plains are found: various species of mountain goats (in Western Europe - the Alpine ibex, in the Caucasus - the tur, in the mountains of Asia - the Siberian mountain goat), chamois, Asian red wolf, some rodents, vultures, mountain turkey, or snowcock, alpine jackdaw, etc.
Fauna in the alpine belt of the mountains of Europe, Asia, North America and northern Africa is generally homogeneous. This is explained by the fact that in the highlands northern hemisphere living conditions are very similar.
Many mountain animals live only where there are rocks. Musk deer, mountain goats, Chubuk bighorn sheep, argali and goral antelope escape from predators in the rocks. Birds - rock pigeon, swifts and red-winged wallcreeper - find convenient nesting places there. The wall climber crawls along steep rocks like a woodpecker along a tree trunk. With its fluttering flight, this small bird with bright crimson wings resembles a butterfly. In dry, sunny areas of the mountains, chukar are often found.
Screes form in many mountains; The life of such animals as the snow vole and the mountain pika (otherwise known as hayfowl) is associated with them. Starting from the second half of summer, especially in autumn, these animals diligently collect blades of grass and twigs of bushes with leaves, lay them out on stones to dry, and then carry the hay under a shelter made of stones.
The peculiar natural conditions of life in the mountains affected the appearance of the animals that constantly live there, their body shapes, lifestyle and habits. They have developed characteristic adaptations that help in the struggle for existence. For example, mountain goats, chamois, and American snow goats have large, mobile hooves that can move widely apart. Along the edges of the hooves - from the sides and in front - there is a well-defined protrusion (welt), and the pads of the toes are relatively soft. All this allows animals, when moving along rocks and steep slopes, to cling to barely noticeable irregularities and not slip when running on icy snow. The horny substance of their hooves is very strong and grows quickly, so the hooves never “wear out” from being abraded by sharp stones. The structure of the legs of mountain ungulates allows them to make large jumps on steep slopes and quickly reach rocks where they can hide from persecution.

Siberian mountain goat.

During the day, rising air currents predominate in the mountains. This favors the soaring flight of large birds - bearded vultures, eagles and vultures. Soaring in the air, they search for carrion or live prey for a long time. The mountains are also characterized by birds with fast, swift flight: Caucasian mountain grouse, mountain turkey, swifts.
In the summer it is cold high in the mountains, so there are almost no reptiles there: after all, most of them are heat-loving. Only viviparous species of reptiles penetrate higher than others: some lizards, vipers, and in northern Africa - chameleons. In Tibet, at an altitude of more than 5 thousand m, the viviparous round-headed lizard is found. Roundheads living on the plains, where the climate is warmer, lay eggs.
The lush plumage of mountain birds and the thick fur of animals protect them from the cold. The snow leopard, which lives in the high mountains of Asia, has unusually long and lush fur, while its tropical relative, the leopard, has short and sparse fur. Animals living in the mountains shed much later in the spring than animals on the plains, and in the fall their fur begins to grow earlier.
Hummingbirds in the Andean highlands South America They nest in caves in large groups, which helps keep the birds warm. On cold nights, hummingbirds fall into torpor, thus minimizing energy expenditure on heating the body, the temperature of which can drop to +14°.
One of the remarkable adaptations to life in the mountains is vertical migrations, or migrations. With the onset of autumn, when it becomes cold high in the mountains, snowfalls begin and, most importantly, it becomes difficult to obtain food, many animals migrate lower down the mountain slopes.
A significant part of the birds living in the mountains of the northern hemisphere fly south at this time. Most birds that remain to winter in the mountains descend to the lower zones, often to the very foothills and surrounding plains. Very few birds, such as the mountain turkey, winter at high altitudes. It usually stays near places where aurochs graze. The snow here is sometimes dug up by their hooves, and it is easier for the bird to find food. The loud, alarming cry of a wary snowcock warns the aurochs of danger.

Mountain partridge partridges.

Deer, roe deer and wild boar, found in the mountains up to the alpine meadows, descend into the forest in the fall. This is also where most chamois go for the winter. Mountain goats migrate to the forested part of the mountains and settle here on steep rocky slopes. Sometimes they move to the southern slopes, where the snow melts on alpine meadows in the very first hours or days after a snowfall, or to steeper windward slopes, where the snow is blown away by the winds.

Bearded vulture.

Following the wild ungulates, the predators that hunt them migrate - wolves, lynxes, snow leopards.
The diversity of natural conditions in the mountains allows animals to find places to winter near the areas where they live in the summer. Therefore, the seasonal migrations of animals in the mountains, as a rule, are much shorter than the migrations of animals and birds on the plains. In the Altai, Sayan and North-Eastern Siberia mountains, wild reindeer make seasonal migrations of only a few tens of kilometers, while their relatives living in the Far North sometimes travel half a thousand kilometers or more in order to reach their wintering grounds.
In the spring, as the snow melts, the animals that have descended migrate back to the upper zones of the mountains. Among wild ungulates, adult males are the first to rise, followed by females with recently born, not yet strong enough babies.
Chamois, mountain goats, wild sheep and other ungulates living in the mountains often die in winter and early spring during snowfalls. In the Alps in the winter of 1905/06, one of the avalanches buried a herd of chamois - about 70 heads.
When there is a lot of snow in the mountains, it is very difficult for wintering ungulates: the snow prevents them from moving and getting food. In the mountains of the Western Caucasus in 1931-1932. It was a very snowy winter. The layer of snow in some places exceeded 6 m. Many deer, roe deer and other animals migrated to the lower parts of the mountains, where the snow cover was less. This winter, roe deer ran into villages and were easily captured. They were caught and kept in barns along with livestock until the snow in the mountains melted and the roe deer were no longer in danger of dying from starvation. At the end of December 1936, snowfall in the Caucasus Nature Reserve continued for four days. At the upper border of the forest, the layer of new loose snow reached a meter. The reserve's scientific staff, while in the mountains, noticed a deep path leading down the slope. They skied along this trail and soon overtook a large auroch. Only a head with horns was visible from the snow.

Lama.

Some species of butterflies, bumblebees and wasps that live high in the mountains have thick pubescence on their bodies - this reduces heat loss. The latter is also facilitated by the shortening of the body appendages - antennae and legs.
Strong winds in the mountains make life difficult for flying insects. The wind often blows them onto snow fields and glaciers, where they die. As a result of long-term natural selection in the mountains, species of insects arose with greatly shortened, underdeveloped wings, which completely lost the ability to actively fly. Their closest relatives, living on the plains, are winged and can fly.
At high altitudes, insects are found only in places, where living conditions are most favorable for them.

Tundra partridge.

The animals of the mountains have not yet been sufficiently studied; many interesting pages from their lives have not yet been read and await young, inquisitive naturalists. The following reserves provide exceptional opportunities for observing the life of wild animals in the mountains: Caucasian, Crimean, Teberdinsky, Aksu-Dzhabaglinsky (Western Tien Shan), Sikhote-Alinsky, etc.

As we already said in the article about the mountain climate, it is fundamentally different from the lowland climate, therefore the living conditions of both plants and animals in the mountains and on the plain are different. Not every animal is able to survive in the mountains. This is due, first of all, to the thin air, and secondly, to the change of vegetation, which is necessary for nutrition for many lowland animals.

Despite the inaccessible rocky places, steep cliffs and descents, the fauna of the mountains is very diverse. In the middle mountain zone, where there are forests and the climate is milder, the number of animal species is much greater than on the plain. Above the subalpine edges, the number of animal species begins to decrease noticeably. And the tops of the mountains, covered with eternal snow, are almost devoid of life. On the top of Mont Blanc (4807 m) traces of chamois were seen; mountain goats, yaks and some types of sheep also go high into the mountains (up to 6000 m). Occasionally at this altitude you can see the snow leopard.

Birds manage to climb higher than all mountain animals. On Everest, climbers observed alpine jackdaws; in the Nepalese Himalayas, a snow partridge nest was found at an altitude of 5700 m. In the Andes they saw a condor, in the Himalayas (7500 m) - a bearded vulture.

Each mountain zone is characterized by a certain type of animal, based on commonality with the fauna living in the corresponding latitudinal zone.
For example, in the mountains of southern Siberia in the tundra belt there are reindeer, horned lark, and tundra partridge, whose native zone is the northern tundra. The mountain belt of Europe, Asia, and North America is homogeneous in general terms, since in the alpine mountain belt the way of life of the fauna is similar and it is the common center of its speciation.

For many animals, for example: mountain goat, bighorn sheep, argali, goral and musk deer, rocks are the most comfort zone habitat, since there you can escape from predators. Rocks are also a shelter from bad weather for birds and a convenient place for nesting. The red-winged wallcreeper gets its name because it moves along a steep cliff like a woodpecker through a tree. The familiar pigeons and swifts also happily nest in rocky niches.

In the rocky scree, the mountain pika, also called the snow vole, scurries back and forth. She dries thin twigs, straws, blades of grass, leaves on the stones, and then takes them to stone shelters: she uses them as hay.

Summer in the mountains is cold, so you rarely see reptiles there (they are heat-loving), with the exception of viviparous lizards and vipers, and in northern Africa, chameleons. Hummingbirds have uniquely adapted to endure the cold: during the day they gather in groups in caves, thus warming each other, and at night they fall into torpor, saving energy for heating the body.

In summer, deer, roe deer, wild boars and other wild ungulates descend from the mountains into the forest, where the snow has melted and it is easier to get food. Following them, predators migrate - wolves, snow leopards, foxes. The natural conditions in the mountains are so diverse that they allow animals to winter near the areas where they live in the summer.

Insects mountain areas so diverse in their own way appearance and lifestyle that deserve a separate encyclopedic article and special attention inquisitive naturalists.

Irbis or snow leopard.

Argali.

The tundra partridge, living on the northern coast of Siberia and on the Arctic islands, is also found in the alpine belt of the mountains of Europe and Asia, where living conditions are similar to the Arctic. Some other animals common in the Arctic also live in the alpine mountain belt: for example, reindeer live in the mountains of Southern Siberia and East Asia. The habitats of deer in Altai are located in most cases not lower than 1500 m above sea level, that is, mainly in the subalpine and alpine mountain belts, where moss and other terrestrial lichens grow in abundance. In winter, when moss and other lichens are of great importance in the diet of reindeer, the nature of the snow cover plays an important role in the choice of habitat. If the snow is too deep and dense, then ground lichens are inaccessible to deer. In winter, the treeless slopes of the mountains of the Alpine belt are most favorable for the life of deer, where snow is blown away by the winds and melts in the sun on clear days.
The fauna of the Alpine belt is very peculiar, where many animals unknown on the plains are found: various species of mountain goats (in Western Europe - the Alpine ibex, in the Caucasus - the tur, in the mountains of Asia - the Siberian mountain goat), chamois, Asian red wolf, some rodents, vultures, mountain turkey, or snowcock, alpine jackdaw, etc.
The fauna in the alpine belt of the mountains of Europe, Asia, North America and northern Africa is generally homogeneous. This is explained by the fact that in the highlands of the northern hemisphere, living conditions are very similar.
Many mountain animals live only where there are rocks. Musk deer, mountain goats, Chubuk bighorn sheep, argali and goral antelope escape from predators in the rocks. Birds - rock pigeon, swifts and red-winged wallcreeper - find convenient nesting places there. The wall climber crawls along steep rocks like a woodpecker along a tree trunk. With its fluttering flight, this small bird with bright crimson wings resembles a butterfly. In dry, sunny areas of the mountains, chukar are often found.
Screes form in many mountains; The life of such animals as the snow vole and the mountain pika (otherwise known as hayfowl) is associated with them. Starting from the second half of summer, especially in autumn, these animals diligently collect blades of grass and twigs of bushes with leaves, lay them out on stones to dry, and then carry the hay under a shelter made of stones.
The peculiar natural conditions of life in the mountains affected the appearance of the animals that constantly live there, their body shapes, lifestyle and habits. They have developed characteristic adaptations that help in the struggle for existence. For example, mountain goats, chamois, and American snow goats have large, mobile hooves that can move widely apart. Along the edges of the hooves - from the sides and in front - there is a well-defined protrusion (welt), and the pads of the toes are relatively soft. All this allows animals, when moving along rocks and steep slopes, to cling to barely noticeable irregularities and not slip when running on icy snow. The horny substance of their hooves is very strong and grows quickly, so the hooves never “wear out” from being abraded by sharp stones. The structure of the legs of mountain ungulates allows them to make large jumps on steep slopes and quickly reach rocks where they can hide from persecution.

Siberian mountain goat.

During the day, rising air currents predominate in the mountains. This favors the soaring flight of large birds - bearded vultures, eagles and vultures. Soaring in the air, they search for carrion or live prey for a long time. The mountains are also characterized by birds with fast, swift flight: Caucasian mountain grouse, mountain turkey, swifts.
In the summer it is cold high in the mountains, so there are almost no reptiles there: after all, most of them are heat-loving. Only viviparous species of reptiles penetrate higher than others: some lizards, vipers, and in northern Africa - chameleons. In Tibet, at an altitude of more than 5 thousand m, the viviparous round-headed lizard is found. Roundheads living on the plains, where the climate is warmer, lay eggs.
The lush plumage of mountain birds and the thick fur of animals protect them from the cold. The snow leopard, which lives in the high mountains of Asia, has unusually long and lush fur, while its tropical relative, the leopard, has short and sparse fur. Animals living in the mountains shed much later in the spring than animals on the plains, and in the fall their fur begins to grow earlier.
Hummingbirds in the Andean highlands of South America nest in caves in large groups, which helps keep the birds warm. On cold nights, hummingbirds fall into torpor, thus minimizing energy expenditure on heating the body, the temperature of which can drop to +14°.
One of the remarkable adaptations to life in the mountains is vertical migrations, or migrations. With the onset of autumn, when it becomes cold high in the mountains, snowfalls begin and, most importantly, it becomes difficult to obtain food, many animals migrate lower down the mountain slopes.
A significant part of the birds living in the mountains of the northern hemisphere fly south at this time. Most birds that remain to winter in the mountains descend to the lower zones, often to the very foothills and surrounding plains. Very few birds, such as the mountain turkey, winter at high altitudes. It usually stays near places where aurochs graze. The snow here is sometimes dug up by their hooves, and it is easier for the bird to find food. The loud, alarming cry of a wary snowcock warns the aurochs of danger.

Mountain partridge partridges.

Bearded vulture.

Lama.

Tundra partridge.