The natural conditions of the mountains differ significantly from those of the plains. In the mountains there is thinner air, less vegetation, and moisture is not available everywhere. This determines the characteristic features of mountain animals and plants.
Bighorn sheep - the visiting card of the mountains
This beautiful animal with massive horns twisted into a ring lives in the most inaccessible rocky places. They feed on the scarce vegetation of the mountains, grasses and lichens, and sometimes on dried grass. Sheep often eat old dry mushrooms in which insect larvae multiply - this helps them to satisfy their need for protein. By the way, despite the impressive horns, the researchers did not notice a single fight between male rams.
Edelweiss is a beautiful mountain plant
The delicate edelweiss flower has become the central character of many legends, where it symbolizes courage, eternal love and good luck. Edelweiss flowers are found in the highlands of Europe and Asia. The surface of the flower is covered with the smallest villi that protect the plant from the scorching mountain sun and prevent excessive evaporation of moisture. Earlier it was almost impossible to get edelweiss, but now these beautiful flowers are successfully grown on alpine hills in country houses.
The popularity of edelweiss is so high that many businesses, restaurants and residential complexes are named after it.
Irbis - big mountain cat
The irbis, or snow leopard, is a predatory feline. Irbis is found in the mountains of Central Asia. The beautiful dense skin of a leopard with long fur and leopard spots on a smoky background made the animal a popular hunting object. As a result, the number of snow leopards has declined sharply, and now the beast is listed in the Red Book. Leopard rarely comes into contact with people and lives quite secluded, so its behavior and habits are still poorly understood.
Blue spruce - tree of the highlands
Blue spruce trees, which often appear in large parks and in public gardens near the administration, live quite high in their natural environment. These trees grow in the mountain valleys of North America and often reach 3000 meters above sea level. The pioneers fell in love with the soft blue spruce needles, and they wanted to grow this beauty on the plain. However, the hotter surface climate negatively affected the seedlings. The solution was found by the Soviet scientist I. Kovtunenko. He grew spruce in a substrate of spruce and pine cones. This method quickly spread throughout the country and brought the biologist the Stalin Prize.
Some of the first blue spruces to appear in Russia are the trees near the Kremlin wall.
Yak - Tibetan beast of burden
In highland Tibet, yaks replace cows. These strong massive animals are used to transport goods and are also raised for meat. Tibetans also drink yak milk, and weave linen from thick shaggy wool. Also, these animals were popular among the nomads of the mountainous areas of India, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Nepal, China. Wild yaks are not adapted to live near people, so their livestock is steadily declining. But domestic yaks remain - they are smaller and calmer.
