The fauna of the steppes is significantly different from the forest fauna. Many steppe animals are forced to live in holes, ungulates develop the ability to move quickly, a tendency to herdness appears. The diversity of rodents is especially characteristic of the steppe fauna. Marmots, jerboas, ground squirrels, mice and other animals of this most numerous group in the steppe live here.
Among the steppe animals of Eurasia , about 90 species of various mammals are found, a third of them cannot exist in another habitat. One of the main features of ungulate animals is herding. Animal steppes gather in herds, making it easier for themselves to protect themselves from predators. The main remedy for ungulates is high speed. In the steppes, where there is no shelter, they must run faster than their enemies in order to survive. Saigak can reach speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour, kulan - up to 70, and gazelle - up to 65. Steppe inhabitants can not do without good endurance - they have to make long transitions and stay without food for a long time.
Small animal steppes take refuge in their burrows. Here they hide from the winter cold and the summer heat, store food supplies and raise offspring. Burrows always maintain normal temperature and humidity, rodents can spend most of their time in their shelters, rarely going out into the light. Numerous passages are clogged with earthen traffic jams; the exit from the hole is covered with sparse grass.
There are very few birds living only in the steppes. The appearance of people in this habitat, plowed fields and deadly harvesters - all this contributed to the extinction of many species of steppe birds. Bustard, Demoiselle Crane, Strepto, Gray Partridge - the most common birds of the Russian steppes. Unfortunately, not all animal steppes of Russia were able to adapt to new conditions. However, many daytime steppe predators still inhabit our lands: the eagle burial ground, Buzzard, steppe eagle, buzzard, kestrels and falcon falcons pose a serious danger to small rodents. You can often find peaceful birds: larks, wagtails, lapwings, avdotok, red ducks and many forest-steppe inhabitants.
Do not do in the steppes and without reptiles. The steppe viper prefers to hunt at night, and during the day it peacefully basks in the sun. When meeting a man, the viper tries to hide, however, if you step on it, it will instantly bite with poisonous teeth. The yellow-bellied snake, on the contrary, is very aggressive and likes to attack first, but its bite is completely harmless to humans. Such animal steppes as lizards can have a wide variety of colors. This reptile is distributed throughout Eurasia, overtaking snakes in numbers.
The steppe is inhabited by an incredible amount of insects. In wet summers, annoying mosquitoes, horseflies and some types of gadflies fly here. In the dry steppe, ktyr live - insects that can defeat bees, wasps and race beetles. This habitat is full of grasshoppers and ants.
Animal steppes have adapted to dry climates. East Eurasia is famous for cold winters and hot summers. The average annual temperature of central Eurasia is from 3 to 7 degrees Celsius, in the south - to 10. The average July temperature is from 20 to 24 degrees, air humidity is about 56-67%, in the driest month this indicator drops to 35-49% . About 300-500 millimeters of precipitation falls annually, over the summer - 160-180. In the spring and late summer in the steppes there is a drought. In July, drought often alternates with large thunderstorms.
Despite external modesty, the world of the steppes is extremely diverse, and a person should take care of it, preventing the extinction of many species. Human intervention in the animal world adversely affects the flora and fauna of this habitat. Many living creatures exist only in the steppes, not meeting in other places of the globe.