Animals of the Voronezh region. Animal world

It is located on the border of the steppe and forest-steppe zones. The nature of this region is rich and varied. Some large rivers, a large number of forests and picturesque meadows provide excellent living conditions for a wide variety of animals. Nature reserves in the region have made it possible to preserve several rare and endangered species. Animals of the Voronezh region are its wealth. Amazing world flora and fauna attracts the attention of not only residents of the region, but also tourists.

Features of the nature of the Voronezh region

This is a unique corner of the Central Russian Upland. Voronezh, Khoper, Usmanka and Bityug make the nature of the region uniquely picturesque. Basically, animals and plants of the Voronezh region are common in other regions, but there are also unique species. Almost 10% of the territory is occupied by forests. In addition to small groves and oak forests, there are also large ones, for example Tellerman and Shipov forests, Usmansky pine forest. On the unplowed sullen lands there remains wild grass, in which many animals thrive: gophers, mice, hares and others.

Some plants have been preserved since ancient times, for example chilim or Don cinquefoil.

Animals of the Voronezh region

The description of the nature of the region is very interesting. More than 400 species of animals are found in this territory. Among them there are many both widespread and rare. AND careful attitude and they all deserve protection. The animals of the Voronezh region feel comfortable in dense forests and even close to human habitation. What are the most common species here?

Rare animals of the Voronezh region

Photos of endangered species can be found in the Red Book. More than 300 species of animals, birds and insects fall into this category. whose population is under the influence economic activity people has greatly decreased. They need protection.

Some animals are so rare that they are listed in the Red Book of Russia. These are muskrat, bison, black stork, bustard and some others.

Nature conservation of the Voronezh region by people

Both the flora and fauna of the region suffer from many species that have disappeared completely or are on the verge of extinction. Therefore, nature requires careful treatment and protection. For this purpose, in the 20s of the 20th century, it was created River beaver, which has been protected and bred there for many years, has now spread throughout the country. There are many hares, squirrels, moose and muskrats living there. People are prohibited from being on the territory of the reserve, so the animals of the Voronezh region feel at ease. Foxes, wolves, martens, ferrets, minks and raccoons are common there. Another is breeding a very rare animal - the muskrat.

This amazing animal has lived on Earth for many thousands of years and is now found almost nowhere. The bison and sika deer have also taken root there well, and the white-tailed eagle and golden eagle are common. Animals of the Voronezh region - both rare and quite famous - are under protection, their numbers are gradually increasing.

The Voronezh Nature Reserve occupies the northern half of the Usmansky Forest at the junction of the Lipetsk and Voronezh regions.

In 1923, a strip of 2,715 hectares along the Usman River and a protective zone around it of almost 4 thousand hectares were allocated for the reserve to preserve the small beaver population.

At that time, only about fifty of these animals lived on Usman. Literally plucked from oblivion, the beaver has now become a common commercial fur species. Already in 1927, the individual regulations on the Voronezh State Beaver Hunting Reserve of republican significance were approved.

In 1985, by UNESCO decision to Voronezh state reserve was given biosphere status, and now it operates according to a single international program. A background monitoring station has been created on its territory, giving an idea of ​​the level of pollution natural environment under human influence.

Currently, the Voronezh Biosphere Reserve occupies 31,053 hectares and is a unique natural complex with a rich variety of flora and fauna. The reserve is a scientific research institution. A beautifully designed nature museum, a zoo section, and an experimental beaver nursery have been created on its basis.

The Usman forest is one of the island forests of the Central Black Earth region. Its forests formed on the left bank sandy terraces of Voronezh and are included in the Left Bank valley-terrace region of the typical forest-steppe subzone of the forest-steppe province of the Oksko-Don lowland. The territory of the reserve occupies ancient terraces along the left bank of Voronezh, the formation of which is associated with the Quaternary glaciation.

Climate

The reserve area is located on the border of the Atlantic-continental and continental climatic regions and is influenced air masses from the Atlantic Ocean and cyclones forming over the Mediterranean. The climate of the reserve is moderate continental, with relatively hot summers and moderate cold winter.

The valleys of rivers and streams of the reserve in the estuarine part have the appearance of weakly defined swampy depressions, turning into the floodplains of their receiving watercourses.

Vegetable world

Spread in the very south of the Central Russian forest-steppe, the Usmansky forest sheltered in its countless edges and clearings feather grass and kozelets with the scent of vanilla, hawkweed and broom, and protected many “northerners” under its canopy: heather and sundew, cranberries and cotton grass, blueberries and pine mosses.

The forests of the protected part of the Usmansky pine forest are mainly of natural origin and multi-tiered, but some pine forests(4684 hectares) represents the cultures of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Pine plantations are the most productive. Average age pine forests - 94 years, oak forests - 70 years, alder forests - 63 years and aspen forests - 60 years.

IN pine forests the reserve has many broad-leaved trees and shrub species, and herbaceous plants oak forests and steppes. Lichens and mosses almost completely cover the soil. In conditions of poor nutrition and moisture supply, pine trees are often twisted, lyre-shaped, stunted and poorly cleared of branches.

Along with the indigenous types of vegetation - pine forests, complex pine forests and oak forests, derivative oak forests, aspen and birch forests in place of pine forests in pine forests, sub-pine forests and complex sub-forests, and aspen forests in place of indigenous oak forests are widespread in the reserve.

Animals of the Voronezh Nature Reserve

The fauna of the Voronezh Nature Reserve includes a large number of species. There are 60 species of mammals, including 7 insectivores, 12 chiropterans, 2 lagomorphs, 20 rodents, 12 carnivores and 4 artiodactyl species. Of these, the following 2 species are listed in the Red Book: muskrat, giant noctule.

Other mammal species are common in the reserve. There are 217 species of birds, of which 12 species recorded in the reserve - steppe harrier, greater spotted eagle, osprey, short-tailed eagle, imperial eagle, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, saker falcon, eagle owl, great curlew, European middle woodpecker, common gray shrike - are listed in Red Book of Russia.

Birds

Birds are the most numerous vertebrates in the reserve, with a total of 217 species: 15 orders and 46 families. Of these, 137 species nest, the vast majority of them migratory. There are 14 species of settlers living in the forest.

The abundance of seeds and fruits of trees and shrubs attracts birds here in winter. About 14 species of northern birds winter in pine and alder forests and near homes. The proximity of forest and steppe determines the arrival of 5 typical steppe species here. During the migration period, the reserve’s territory is visited by another 44 migratory species.

Reptiles and amphibians

There are 8 species of reptiles and 9 amphibians common in the reserve.

Fish

Fish are represented by 39 species, and there is also one representative of cyclostomes - the Ukrainian lamprey, which is also listed in the Red Book of Russia.

Insects

More than 10 thousand species of invertebrates, including about 5.2 thousand insects. Of these, the following 6 species of insects are listed in the Red Book: fragrant beetle, stag beetle, carpenter bee, Mnemosyne, emperor watcher, smooth bronze beetle.

Nature

Throughout the year, the appearance of the Usman Forest is beautiful and unique. Spring enters the forest from the southern edges. Right under the unmelted snow in the first 2-3 sunny days hazel - hazel blossoms.

In the oak forests, almost every day with the flowering of hazel, a blue color of flowers begins to spread - these are the primroses of the Central Russian oak forests, snowdrops, blooming. With the onset of warming, it is the alder’s turn to bloom. The spring alder, proudly standing in the water of the March floods, is the savior of river animals that are driven out of their burrows by rapid floods.

After the alder, it is the turn of the light aspen to bloom. Then they are joined by pine, birch and other trees. And with the flowering of raspberries, rosehips and black maples, summer finally comes to the forest. Every day the grass grows higher and thicker in the water meadows.

Adonis (cuckoo flower) blooms across the meadows, and valerian, geranium and carnation add their colors to it. On calm water Summer begins with the flowering of the white water lily. In the morning, the overpowering grass opens its multi-petalled floating vases, first near the shores, then further and further from them.

In sunny places, on the remnants of spills, marigold blooms. And on old aspens the “hooves” of tinder fungi come to life. Where the dark alder forest recedes slightly from the water, its only decoration grows along the edges - viburnum. Viburnum itself blooms late, and its berries ripen slowly.

In spring, not only plants, but also animals wake up in the forest. With the onset of fine days, the drumming of woodpeckers echoes more and more often and louder through the snow-covered forest. Hidden in the crown of a pine tree, a winter mockingbird, a jay, chirps and whistles.

Clear “bells” are heard from there great tits and the gentle “pipes” of chickadees. At the evening dawns, near the meadows and forest edges, blackbirds, the best singers, perform their roulades up to the stars. spring forest. The tall man does not have such musical abilities, but he has a stronger voice: beautiful, clear and deep.

At night, across the river and in the old oak grove, male owls “laugh” defiantly. IN Voronezh Nature Reserve There is a place for nests for every taste. The nightingale, bunting, tree pipit, nightjar and warbler roost on the ground. On the hazel and bird cherry bushes there are warblers and shrikes.

But the finch, dove, oriole, mockingbird, buzzard, crow and raven climb above all, to the very top branches. Tits, whirligigs, nuthatch, white-necked flycatchers, pied owls, owls and crowed owls prefer secluded hollows. Among the waterfowl in the Voronezh floods you can see a couple of mallards and herons, as well as an oystercatcher.

Roe deer have lived in the forest for a long time, but they are still under special protection, because their number is growing very slowly, and they can be seen much less often than, for example, red deer or elk, and in the summer only the prints of small hooves betray the presence of these watchful animals. The boar himself appeared in the Usmansky forest, returning to it after a hundred and fifty year absence. He returned and soon began to claim the place of owner of the forest.

Beaver nursery

But the pride of the Voronezh Biosphere Reserve, of course, is its magnificent beaver nursery. By the beginning of our century, the river beaver was almost completely exterminated. Pitiful remains of the beaver remain in the floodplains of some small rivers, including the Usmanka, which flows within the reserve.

The Voronezh Nature Reserve is one of the most environmental protection zones in Russia, created during 1923-1927.

It was founded on the territory of the Voronezh region, first as a Beaver reserve, which later became a nature reserve.

Voronezh Nature Reserve. museum of nature photo

In the mid-1980s. The reserve received the status of a biosphere reserve, protected by UNESCO. At the end of August 2013, the institution received the name of the famous journalist and writer V. Peskov, as well as the status of a federal reserve.

Briefly about the Voronezh Nature Reserve

Located in Voronezhskaya (40 km from Voronezh) and Lipetsk regions, occupying an area of ​​31 thousand hectares. This is the territory of the forest-steppe zone, which covers the Usmansky forest, where there is a very rich flora and fauna.

beaver nursery photo

The reserve includes the following objects:

• Museum of Nature;
• Dendrological Park;
• Experimental beaver nursery;
• Monastery of the Holy Savior;
• An oak tree that is over 400 years old.

The largest exhibition exists in the Museum of Nature, opened in 1934, and which is almost the same age as the reserve. The total exhibition area is more than 820 square meters.

Monastery of St. Savior photo

They are divided into five huge halls, decorated in the form of artistic panoramas and dioramas, where you can see the following exhibitions:

• Animal and vegetable world;
• Collections of rare species of flora and fauna;
• A collection of antlers of a species of deer such as the European noble;
• Entomological collections.

Animals (fauna) of the Voronezh Nature Reserve

Fauna is represented by:

• birds - more than 200 species that live here permanently, while others fly in for the winter;
• mammals;
• fish that are found in rivers flowing through the reserve;
• cyclostomes;
• reptiles;
• amphibians.

Voronezh Nature Reserve. woodpecker photo

Among the birds, about 26 species live sedentary, these include: Tree Sparrow and Blue Tit, Pika and Magpie, Gray Crow and Pigeons, Woodpeckers, Eagle Owls and Owls, Goshawk and others.

The following types of birds fly to the reserve for the winter: Long-eared owls and siskins, bullfinches and goldfinches, linnets and crossbills, and nutcrackers.

The world of mammals living in forests and forest-steppe zones is quite diverse. In particular, there are: Red deer and roe deer, foxes and wolves, wild boars and beavers, raccoon dogs and ground squirrels, hamsters and mice, muskrats and rats, hares, muskrats and ferrets, pipistrelle and marten, jerboas and badgers, noctules and noctules, minks American and stoats, weasels.

The existence of several species has not been definitely proven, but research in this direction is ongoing.

The following species of mammals and birds were included in the Red Book: muskrat, imperial eagle, golden eagle, sea eagle, and short-tailed snake eagle.

Plants (flora) of the Voronezh Nature Reserve

On the territory of the reserve there are forests, represented by oak groves and oak forests, as well as more than 1 thousand species of plants. The following types of trees grow in the forests: pines, occupying more than a third of all plants, oaks - almost a third of the forests; aspen – almost 20%; birch; alder.

old-timer oak photo

Alder trees grow on the banks of the Ivnitsa and Usamani rivers. Among the plants you can find:

• Bryophytes;
• Lichens;
• Mushrooms.

The reserve is not an ordinary place where animals live, trees and many plants grow. Employees are actively research work, creating entertainment for visitors. For example, ecological trails, rope park, the museum's exposition is being replenished.

reserved fairy tale photo

The Beaver Museum, which has an interactive nature, began to function in the Scientific and Educational Complex. The life of beavers is open to all visitors, who live in a large two-level aquarium.

Ecological trails are fascinating places that are short in length but have a special energy. They stretch between centuries-old trees, in whose branches birds live.

Two trails attract attention - the Malaya Cherepakhinskaya and the Reserved Tale. The walk along the latter passes through the ancient Usmansky forest, the population of beavers from which became the reason for the creation of the reserve. While visiting the trail you can see quite rare species animals.

handsome deer in the Voronezh Nature Reserve photo

A rather interesting place that adults and children like to visit is the beaver town. Interestingly, it began its work back in 1932. This is where you can look at the beavers, their activities, and take pictures.

The appearance of red deer in these areas was not accidental. One of the former owners of the reserve brought several individuals here, which adapted and began to multiply quickly.

The relief is quite atypical for this region. There are many rivers, lakes, and northern-type swamps, near which berries grow - blueberries and cranberries.

The Voronezh region is located on the border of the steppe and forest-steppe zones. The nature of this region is rich and varied. Several large rivers, a large number of forests and picturesque meadows provide excellent living conditions for a wide variety of animals. Nature reserves in the region have made it possible to preserve several rare and endangered species. Animals of the Voronezh region are its wealth. The amazing world of flora and fauna attracts the attention of not only residents of the region, but also tourists.

Animals of the Voronezh region The description of the nature of the region is very interesting. More than 400 species of animals are found in this territory. Among them there are many both widespread and rare. And they all deserve careful treatment and protection. The animals of the Voronezh region feel comfortable in floodplain meadows, in dense forests and even next to human habitation. What are the most common species here? IN steppe zones and in the fields live the brown hare, gophers, mouse-voles and ferrets. Birds include partridges, steppe eagle and larks. Closer to the south there are bobak, bustard and osprey. The forests are inhabited by the largest animals in the region: moose, red deer, roe deer. There are also squirrels, wild boars, badgers and a wide variety of birds. Beavers and minks like to settle along the banks of reservoirs, and in some places the muskrat is found. Animals of the __Voronezh _______region The reservoirs themselves are inhabited by many fish and amphibians: catfish, sterlet, pike perch and pike are valuable commercial species, and sometimes found marsh turtle is very rare. In any place in the Voronezh region - both in forests and in fields - you can meet the ubiquitous foxes, wolves, weasels and raccoons.

Photos of endangered species can be found in the Red Book. More than 300 species of animals, birds and insects fall into this category. The Red Book of the Voronezh Region contains animals whose population has greatly decreased under the influence of human economic activity. They need protection. These are mainly insects, for example: blue-winged desert moth, common mantis, steppe cicada, bear, silkworm and others. Several species of fish are also endangered due to severe pollution and shallowing of rivers. These are sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, trout, pike perch and other commercially valuable fish. Birds also suffer due to air pollution and intensive human economic activities. Grouse, Roller, Common Woodpecker, Osprey, White-tailed Eagle and Black-fronted Shrike are protected. Some animals are so rare that they are listed in the Red Book of Russia. These are muskrat, bison, black stork, bustard and some others. Rare animals of the Voronezh region

Both the flora and fauna of the region suffer from human economic activity. Many species have disappeared completely or are on the verge of extinction. Therefore, nature requires careful treatment and protection. For this purpose, in the 20s of the 20th century, the Voronezh Biosphere Reserve. The river beaver, which was protected and bred there for many years, has now spread throughout the country. There are many hares, squirrels, moose and muskrats living there. People are prohibited from being on the territory of the reserve, so the animals of the Voronezh region feel at ease. Foxes, wolves, martens, ferrets, minks and raccoons are common there. Another reserve, Khopyorsky, breeds a very rare animal - the muskrat. This amazing animal has lived on Earth for many thousands of years and is now found almost nowhere. The bison and sika deer have also taken root there well, and the white-tailed eagle and golden eagle are common. Animals of the Voronezh region - both rare and quite famous - are under protection, their numbers are gradually increasing. Nature conservation of the Voronezh region by people

Time flies slowly. Individual cities and entire states are disappearing into oblivion, and the appearance of vast spaces on earth is changing. Where the Central Black Earth economic region is now marked on maps, the Great Foresteppe used to stretch.

For centuries, the Great Foresteppe was the scene of a fierce struggle between the Slavs and nomads who inhabited it. The Polovtsians and Tatars more than once passed through it with fire and sword.

Only at the beginning of the 16th century. fortified cities are being built. At different distances from them, guard posts - “watchmen” - were established, which were located mainly on large roads, near fords across rivers, and large forests.

In the first half of the 17th century. historians note the rapid growth of the population of the Great Foresteppe. New cities are being built, ditches are being dug, abatis are being set up.

Beginning of the 18th century marked the acceleration and intensification of human impact on the nature of the Substeppe. At this time, more steppes were plowed than in the previous two centuries. The population density in the northern half of the forest-steppe increased to 42 people per square verst, while in the southern half it did not exceed 7. The majority of the population were serfs, whose main occupation was agriculture.

The appearance of the steppe has changed. Its characteristic feature is the striped pattern. Ribbons of black plowed earth alternated with strips of winter crops. The squares of stubble turned yellow, interspersed with litter - weedy areas of the previously raised steppe. Here and there along their edges towered stacks of hay and sheaves of bread swept into stacks.

Another important branch of agriculture was cattle breeding. It had highest value where vast steppes still remained. Virgin steppes and fallow areas in the second half of the 18th century. preserved only in the southern districts of the Voronezh and Tambov provinces. Arable land there ranged from 23 to 50%, while in the northern counties the share of arable land reached 60%. Back in the 20s of the XIX century. In the Voronezh province, cattle breeding was the main occupation of the population. More than two hundred stud farms kept 12 thousand purebred horses, and in total in the Voronezh province there were about 572 thousand horses and 600 thousand heads of large cattle. It is the pastoralists who are responsible for giving the Foresteppe another, hitherto uncharacteristic, landscape feature. An integral attribute of the Prasol farms were steppe ponds - stakes set up for watering livestock. When strengthening earthen dams, the owners of reservoirs lined them with willows. Over time, it was possible to unmistakably determine the location of the pond from the trees sticking out far in the steppe.

Simultaneously with the plowing of the steppes, further deforestation took place. In 1701, by decree of Peter I, at the mouth of the river. Crows prepared 53 thousand logs for firing bricks and lime alone. For the needs of the Admiralty, the Shipov Forest and forests near Kostensk, previously considered impenetrable, were cut down.

The gradual reduction of suitable habitats and direct persecution by humans could not but affect the number and distribution of animals in the Foresteppe. First of all, this affected those species whose life required large areas of forest, vast steppe spaces, and quiet places rarely visited by people.

From the first years of settlement of the region, the life of the inhabitants of fortified settlements - “fortifications” - was closely connected with animals. As evidenced by archaeological data obtained during excavations of two ancient settlements near the village. Borshchevo on the Don and in the Kuznetsov tract on the river. Voronezh, the basis of the settlers' diet were beavers and ungulates, which accounted for 80% of all animal remains found in kitchen waste. The share of beavers there was 39, ungulates - 42% (Barabash-Nikiforov I.I., 1957).

In the 17th century The beaver (Castor fiber L.) was highly valued, therefore, when describing estates, estates and cares, beaver lands were especially highlighted. In the second half of the seventeenth century, south of the river. The Seim also encountered vast steppes, abundant in ungulates. Historical sources relating to the southern Trans-Don forest-steppe and dating from the 50s and 60s of the 17th century provide a lot of information about elk camps, stalls and bathing places, about “Goat” camps and stalls, about “pig lairs” and “prorysks”. These animals were found at that time in the upper reaches of the river. Tsna, in the basins of Lesnoy and Polny Voronezh, Vorona and Khopra. Separate mention was made of the presence of these species in the Tellerman Forest. Deer were rarely seen in these places. IN late XVII V. There has been a worldwide reduction in the ranges of elk, deer, roe deer and wild boar. Bison, according to historians, were no longer found in the Voronezh forest-steppe after 1709. In the Voronezh province by 1781, elk (Alces alces L.) were also not found. A large decrease in the number of moose occurred between the Don, Khopr and Medveditsa. At the beginning of the 18th century. roe deer (Cervus elaphus L.) lived everywhere in the Voronezh province, but in response to later inquiries from the Academy of Sciences (1781), only Bobrovsky district reported that there were wild goats there, and even then only occasionally. Deer (Cervus elaphus L.) in the central black earth forest-steppe at the end of the 19th century. kept only in menageries.

TO mid-18th century V. The forest-steppe south of the Voronezh Territory in some places retained pristine natural features. Forests did not undergo the same decline that occurred in subsequent decades, and arable land occupied only a small part of suitable land. As N.A. Severtsov, one of the founders of Russian ecology, testifies (1855), the feather grass steppe in many places was preserved in its “original” form. A typical bird of this steppe - the little bustard (Tetrax tetrax L.) - was found in those years during migrations in flocks of several thousand individuals.

However, even then, as ravine forests and small forest “islands” were cut down in steppe depressions and under the influence of profound changes introduced into the nature of the steppe by plowing vast areas, processes of restructuring of the wild steppe fauna quickly developed. There was a reduction in the number speckled ground squirrels, hamsters and underground rodents, mole rats, which replaced them in large numbers gray voles. The bandage (Vormela perigusna Guld.) is a motley ferret that hunts gophers and was previously common in the southeast of the Voronezh province, by the time of N.A. Severtsov’s observations it had already become extremely rare. Marmots (Marmota bobacMuller.) have practically disappeared.

On the contrary, the fauna of the fields has not yet fully formed; the animals have not yet adapted to the new conditions produced by the cultivation of the land.

The final formation of the landscape of the modern forest-steppe ended by the end of the 19th century. By this time, there was little virgin steppe left even in the south of the Voronezh province, and in other areas of the Central Russian forest-steppe only small areas survived. Large areas the forests were cleared, and in the remaining ones there was a change of species. Forest cover in Voronezh province was 8%. Most of the forests were cut down. Only isolated scatterings of small forest islands along ravines and ravines have survived, and in some places forested areas along the river valleys - Voronezh (Usmansky forest), Khopra (Tellerman massif), Bityuga (Khrenovsky forest).

In the first half of the 19th century. The most dramatic changes among ungulates occurred in the southern part of the Central Black Earth Region. Describing the fauna of the Voronezh province, N. A. Severtsov (1855) classifies wild boar and roe deer as extinct species, but does not mention elk and deer at all. Wild boars (Sus scrofa L.) were found in the southernmost part of the province until late XVIII century, and the last specimen was killed in the Bityug forests in 1820.

With the plowing of virgin steppe lands and clearing of forests, the process of drying out swamps and shallowing of rivers intensified. It reached its peak in the 70s of the 19th century. As a result, the living conditions of aquatic animals and, first of all, beavers and muskrats have deteriorated significantly. There was a widespread decline in their numbers, and in many places these animals disappeared completely (Fig. 63).

By the end of the 19th century. The Great Foresteppe was already a Great Arable Land. Plowed land was more than 60%. For the fauna of the Voronezh region, this meant the transition of many species to complete dependence on humans. In order to survive, it was necessary to adapt to the changed “home” and develop new habitats. Some people got used to it quickly, some experienced these changes painfully, others were unable to adapt at all. First of all, this affected the “steppe people”. It is not for nothing that the marmot, bustard (Otis tarda L.), little bustard and bandage took places on the pages of the Red Books of the USSR and RSFSR.

By the mid-50s of the XX century. On the territory of the Voronezh region, the only small colony of marmots remained on the lands of the Institute of Agriculture named after. V.V. Dokuchaev in the Talovsky district (Barabash-Nikiforov I.I., 1957). However, since 1962, information about encounters with bobak again began to arrive from the southern regions, where the animal apparently entered from the Ukrainian steppe reserve, Rostov region, and perhaps even local micropopulations that have survived here and there. In the next ten years, he populated the beam systems of the Bogucharsky and Kantemirovsky districts (Semago L.D., Ryabov L.S., 1973). At the same time, the secondary adaptation of the bobak to life on the slopes of ravines, narrow strips of deposits, as well as the construction of burrows in the fields was affected. In 1975, its number was estimated at approximately 3.5 thousand individuals, and by 1982 - already at 6.5 thousand (Ryabov L. S. et al., 1983).

Peculiar settlements of marmots formed in many farmsteads abandoned by man; holes there were usually located under the preserved foundations of huts and in dilapidated basements.

Not everywhere the transformative activity of man has benefited this animal. Thus, the creation of a powerful network of shelterbelts at the already mentioned Institute of Agriculture brought the aboriginal population of marmots to the brink of extinction. The fact is that forest plantings over time caused a significant increase in groundwater, and this, in turn, led to the massive death of animals. It was especially significant in 1975.