Wildlife of Ukraine Part 1 - ecology and background

 

In view of the terrible situation in Ukraine at the moment I decided that my next series of posts will be dedicated to the wildlife, both obvious and not-so-obvious, to be found in that country. I hope my readers appreciate this and will be inspired to aid as they can the people and nature of this often misunderstood country.

To start with the general layout of habitats, in terms of its ecosystems Ukraine can be divided into three bands of habitats running southwest to northeast. In the south, including the Black Sea coast, dry steppe grassland covers about a third of the country, and extends eastward into central Asia. North of that is a forest steppe zone, with rather more rainfall and at least some tree cover in places. Finally, the north and west of the country is (at least before deforestation from agriculture)   comprises mixed deciduous and coniferous forest, with extensive bogs and wetlands in the north on the border with Belorus and Poland. Most of the country is more or less flat, but in the west the Carpathian mountains are steeper and densely forested, and extend from Ukraine through Poland into Slovakia and south into Romania.

Demoiselle Crane

Ukraine is a land of rivers – over 23,000 in fact. Most of course are fairly small, but they include a short section of the Danube and the second greatest (by volume) river in Europe, the Dnieper. These both eventually form major river deltas on the Black Sea which are important wildlife areas. These large rivers are the natural habitat for some of the worlds most famous (and largest) freshwater fish, the multiple species of sturgeon that produce caviar.

Beluga Sturgeon

In the past the steppe grassland in the south was wide open to repeated waves of invaders from the east, most famously Genghis Khan and his successors, and before that in the last days of the Roman Empire the peoples that became known to history as the Huns. Being too dry for most forms of arable farming without irrigation, the grasslands were natural horse and livestock country. In more recent times arable farming has covered most of the country, resulting in extensive conversion of steppe and grassland for growing wheat and sunflowers for oil among other crops. Much of the wetland has been drained as well for farming and this has inevitable impacted the native wildlife. In addition to this building of hydroelectric dams has impacted fish migrations. and most famously of all the Chernobyl Power station, which was built on the banks of the Pripyat, a river which also flows through Belarus before joining the Dnieper,  has serious implications for radioactive pollution of the rivers and eventually the Black Sea itself.

This agricultural expansion, along with hunting and other forms of persecution, has resulted in localised extinction within Ukraine of several large mammals in particular. Eurasian Wild Ass, Wild Horse, Saiga Antelope, European Bison have all become extinct, although reintroduction projects are now in place for some of them. In the prehistoric period lions also lived at least in the south, preying on the then-abundant wildlife.

Saiga Antelope

In this series of posts I cannot cover every species found in Ukraine, but I aim to cover as wide a variety of mammals, birds, reptiles and insects as I can. I hope my readers appreciate this primer.

Next time I will start with the multitude of rodents, some specialised or unfamiliar, that call Ukraine home.