Gallery Fauna of the Rostov Region

Going under busy Budennovsky Avenue, city residents and visitors can see a life of Don Cossacks and Soviet Rostovites, characters from Sholokhov’s books and fauna of the Rostov region. The nature of the Rostov region is very diverse. Its territory is home to representatives of the animal world from three zones: steppe, semi-desert and forest. Although more than 40 years passed after the mosaics were created, all the pictured animals and birds live in the Rostov Nature Preserve, wildlife reserves and specially protected natural reservations. The local fauna includes 70 species of mammals and about 200 bird species. Going along the gallery, we see an owl sitting on the branch; hares on the edge of the forest; a fox bringing a young mouse, its prey, to its cubs; cranes; a wolf catching hares in the snow-covered steppe; graceful white swans and wild ducks. The wild duck has distinctive opalescent purple-blue feathers in the lower part of the white-edged wing, which are seen in a flight or at rest. Ducks trap air under their feathers to float on the water. The air stays between their features and down. The trapped air prevents loss of the body’s heat. Then we see a beautiful stag powerfully roaring; wild boars looking at the barking dog in surprise; roes resting on the bank of a water body; stocks, herons and pelicans; an elk coming to drink water, an epitome for strength and resilience. Elks’ spreading antlers have some resemblance to an ancient instrument of agricultural labor, a plough. In the underpass, you can see an animal of the early times – these are saigas. The saiga, or a northern antelope, is an ancient inhabitant of the Don land. These animals used to graze next to mammoths, and now they walk freely around the Rostov region. They have a distinctive hooked nose which heats up the air, unusual horns reaching 30 cm in length. These harmless animals used to be killed on a mass scale for their horns. Now the saigas are bred in a nursery at the Rostov Nature Reserve. The species is listed in the Red Data Book of the Rostov region as endangered.