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WONDERS OF NATURE
Askania-Nova. Nature miracle
Askania-Nova is a unique corner of nature: here is the only piece of steppe in Europe that has never been touched by a plow (once a plowed steppe is never restored). This is a nature reserve and a valuable open-air museum: lonely mounds, stone Scythian women, created by ancient sculptors, have been preserved here. Once upon a time, on the left bank of the lower Dnieper to the very Sea of \uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbAzov, there was a virgin steppe, on which herds of aurochs, bison, and wild horses grazed. On this territory, a reserve was created with an area of 11 thousand hectares, of which 1,5 hectares are absolutely reserved. Askania-Nova is located on an almost ideal plain with vast, barely noticeable depressions - hearths.
The climate of Askania-Nova is arid, with long summers and short, overcast winters. The average July temperature is 23,4 degrees, with a maximum of 38 degrees. The average January temperature is 3,6 degrees, there are also sudden frosts reaching -34 degrees. F. E. Falz-Fein founded the Askanian Reserve and Zoo. Perhaps he began to think about creating a protected area in 1874, when he received from his father an aviary for birds as a reward for successfully passing the exams to the gymnasium. Fifteen years later, shortly after graduating from the University of Tartu, Falz-Fein founded a unique acclimatization park. A little later, he allocates a plot of the virgin steppe of 15 acres and declares it protective for all time. The reserve adjoined a forest park with artificial ponds and canals, where many animals and birds lived. Further there were fenced-off areas of the virgin steppe, where antelopes, bison, zebras, deer, and ostriches lived. In the acclimatization park, work was carried out to tame and domesticate animals. The experience of the Askaniysky reserve did not go unnoticed: already in the first years after its creation, the largest scientists called Askania-Nova the only and inimitable pearl of our south in the whole world. In 1910, the first zootechnical station appeared on the basis of the zoo, where for the first time work was carried out on artificial insemination of horses. There, the world's first hybrids of horses with zebras were obtained, and then the world-famous new breeds of sheep and pigs. Then the park was opened for the general public: from 1912 to 1917 almost 13 thousand tourists visited Askania-Nova. In 1919, Askania-Nova was declared a national park, and then a state steppe reserve. In 1921, an acclimatization center for steppe, forest-steppe and savannah animals was included in the boundaries of the Askania-Nova reserve, in which they were given maximum freedom. Different times fell to the share of the Askaniysky Reserve. On its territory there were military actions of two wars (Civil and Patriotic). After the war, the reserve and the acclimatization park were under pressure from business executives; they were eager to use the land for grazing, they even offered to plow this priceless natural monument, and not to breed the Przewalski horse, since it allegedly has no national economic value. More than 400 species of herbs and flowers grow in the protected area. Cereals predominate in the Ascanian steppe, wheatgrass is typical, from the herbs - the steppe hearth cornflower. At the end of April, tulips bloom, then irises, astragalus, hyacinths, buttercups. In May, clove and chamomile open their buds. And Bannikov writes: “How beautiful the steppe is! It is equally wonderful both in early spring, strewn with red and yellow tulips, dark purple and yellow irises, and in summer, wrapped in a silver-gray haze of feather grass, shimmering in waves from the slightest breath of breeze. During the flowering period of feathery feather grass between their sultans, slender, graceful brushes of juicy-lilac steppe mullein are visible, small white flowers of gerbil, pale pink carnations and yellow goat-beard are barely visible. In some places, steppe umbrellas rise, and at the holes of ground squirrels, clumps of grayish-gray wormwood grow. Later, in mid-June, when the feather grasses fade, fragrant yellow bedstraw caps, pyramidal white felt sage, delicate purple flowers on spherical, sprawling kermek bushes will appear, onions, yellow steppe cornflowers will bloom. If the summer turned out to be not dry, the flowering feathery feather grasses in mid-June are replaced by gentle golden waves of long awns of feather grass-tyrsa, covering the steppe to the very horizon. The Askanian park with an area of about 200 hectares differs significantly from the wild steppe zone. It is broken according to a strict plan. Wells, artificial ponds were dug in the waterless steppe, and a botanical park was laid on their banks. Trees and shrubs were brought here from various climatic zones. Tree plantings are interspersed with clearings and groups of bushes. About 150 species and forms of trees and shrubs grow in the park. Holly maple, Crimean pine, pyramidal and columnar oaks, virginian juniper, elm, and spruce have taken root here. Ash, white locust, elm, oak, thuja, honeysuckle and lilac predominate. Weeping willows grow near the water. The center of the composition of the park is a picturesque pond. On the territory of the reserve, you can meet representatives of more than 60 species of birds (16 species of birds nest in the virgin steppe, many birds are on the migration, about 40 species nest in parks and about 30 species of birds that have never lived in Askania-Nova before). Most of all larks: small, gray, crested, steppe, white-winged and even northern horned ones. It is impossible to imagine the steppe without nimble heaters. One can see in the steppe an inseparable pair of Demoiselle Cranes or two important Common Cranes, as well as Steppe Sandpipers - Sandpipers. Bustards and little bustards, gray partridges also nest in the steppe. A rare guest is the steppe eagle. More often you can see a steppe harrier or a kestrel flying low above the ground. In the spring, curlews call loudly, in the evenings the voices of whooper swans are heard. Starlings, rooks, greenfinches, black-fronted shrikes, goldfinches, garden warblers began to nest in the park. Kestrels, jackdaws, cuckoos, orioles, nightingales live. In winter - tits, robins, finches, waxwings, thrushes, woodpeckers. Water bodies are inhabited by mallards, lapwings, reed harriers, warblers, and wagtails. In the reserve you can see white and black swans, flamingos, Egyptian, gray, black, white geese. The enclosures contain such rare birds as African ostriches, emus, rhea, bustards, pheasants, steppe eagles, crowned cranes, and parrots. There are few small animals. Of the typical species, there is a vole, which in favorable years breeds in large numbers. Less mice, hamsters, mice, rare jerboa and common hamster. But there are a lot of gray gophers sitting in a column. Of the predators in the Ascanian steppes, steppe eagles, steppe polecats, foxes, weasels and rare stoats are common. Askania-Nova Park was inhabited by bats, red vespers. Shrew, hedgehog, forest mouse live here. In the morning, lizards and sometimes steppe vipers bask on the paths, and the presence of snakes can be detected by the pond. The insect world of the steppe is diverse. The black beetle rolling a ball of dung is its main attraction. Barbels with black transverse stripes settle in flowers. Fluttering burdocks, swallowtails, mother-of-pearl, satyrs, whites. In the middle of summer, there are especially many fillies. Praying mantises sit on the grass, horses run along the roads. The original zoo of the reserve contains a unique collection of animals. Back in 1888, Falz-Fein brought American Nanda ostriches to the park, four years later - African, and then - Australian emus. From all the ostriches, chicks were soon obtained, and only the emu gave birth after 20 years (the emu, which lays eggs in the Australian summer, when we have winter, is forced to sit on an artificial nest in the house). The acclimatization center of wild animals presents species of interesting animals and birds living not only in Russia, but also on other continents (zebras, South American camels, Indian and African antelopes, ostriches, pheasants, peacocks, deer, etc.). South American llamas, Scottish ponies, American bison, Kaffir buffalo graze in the steppe. Even Falz-Fein decided to try to restore the saiga, which disappeared from the Askanian steppes, apparently at the end of the XNUMXth century. Saigas are the oldest ungulates, the same age as mammoths. They occupy an intermediate position between goats and antelopes. The saiga is similar to a sheep, but lighter in build. The body length of adult animals reaches about 150 cm. The saiga has a relatively large head with a swollen humpbacked muzzle hanging over the mouth. On the head of the males are translucent, wax-colored horns, slightly curved back. Females without horns. The coat of animals is yellowish-red in summer and light yellow in winter. Saiga feed on cereals, herbs, and wormwood. Water is needed only during severe summer droughts. In the first days of May, saigas have cubs, and the herd immediately almost doubles. Females already at the age of one give offspring - one cub each, adults usually bring two cubs each. Saigas provide good meat, skins used for the manufacture of chromium, industrial fat, and horns, from which medicines such as pantocrine are prepared. In 1887, a couple of saigas were brought from the vicinity of Tsaritsyn (Volgograd). Later, these artiodactyls were imported many times, and they became the most common antelopes of the park. However, the experiments of releasing them into the steppe for complete freedom were not crowned with success - these migratory animals need very large open spaces, so after the release they dispersed around the neighborhood and died. It was also not possible to achieve success when keeping saigas in a fenced-off steppe enclosure. It turned out to be even more difficult to restore a wild horse - a tarpan. The last wild tarpan mare in the world was killed in December 1879, 35 km from Askania-Nova, near the village of Agaiman. Soon the fate of the Tauride tarpan was shared by the Dzungarian tarpan (Przhevalsky's horse). Russian traveler NM Przhevalsky discovered in Central Asia one species of wild horse, which received his name. This horse differed from the tarpan only in its sandy color (the tarpans were gray), in a heavier stock and in the structure of the teeth. Przewalski's horse, already then the only wild horse on the entire globe. F. E. Faltz-Fein and decided to bring it to Askania-Nova. After learning about the first wild horses in Askania-Nova Park, a well-known animal dealer in Hamburg. K. Hagenbeck offered Falz-Fein to buy Przewalski's horses for good money. Having received a categorical refusal, Gagenbeck sent his agents to Askania-Nova, who found out from the park attendants who was the supplier of Przhevalsky's horses. Hagenbeck managed to get wild horses and send them to various zoos around the world. After that, messages appeared in the German press in which merits were extolled. to Hagenbeck. However, this species was saved from extinction thanks to the merchant Asanov and hunters. It was they who captured several dozen foals in 1898–1901 to sell them to zoos. All the Dzungarian tarpans now living in the zoos of the world are descendants of the Asanov foals. True, in 1947 a foal of the Przhevalsky horse was caught in Mongolia, and in the winter of 1959 about 20 horses still lived there. Askania-Nova Park, the first in the world to receive Przewalski's horses and the first to start breeding them, bred 1904 thoroughbred horses and more than 1940 hybrids from 37 to 30. Red deer were also introduced by Falz-Fein to his park in 1894. When freely kept in steppe pens, they formed a hybrid form of the Askanian deer, easily enduring the steppe heat and the lack of branch fodder. A little later, American bison appeared in Askania-Nova, and then bison. Crossing bison with pure bison turned out to be very valuable for the restoration of the Caucasian bison. At the end of the XNUMXth century, Falz-Fein brought antelopes to Askania-Nova, and animals were brought in later. The African eland antelope bred better than others, the milk of which has four times the fat content of cow's milk and has healing properties. Wildebeest and zebra breed well in Askania-Nova. This reserve is the only one in Europe where tropical animals - zebras - are kept in the wild. It turned out to be promising and the maintenance of deer. From April to November, almost all ungulates graze in the steppe. In winter, the most heat-loving species are transferred to the premises. Author: Yudina N.A.
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