Chukotka

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Overview
Overview: 

Chukotka is one of 89 units or districts of the Russian Federation.  To give it its proper name it is the Chukotka Autonomous District.  It covers a vast area  of North East Russia.  It is home to 50,000 people.

Geography
Geographical Information: 
The District is over 1400km wide. Its western edge is the Kolyma River in Siberia and its eastern extremity is the Bering Strait. The northern coastline looks out over the Arctic Ocean while the Southern border is in the Koryak Highlands.
Area: 
The total area of this district is 737,700 sq km’s about the size of England and France combined.
Maximum Altitude: 
The highest peak is Mt Dvukh Tsirkov ( (two Cirques) at 1,853 meters.
Physical Features: 

Chukotka is mountainous . The Kolyma-Chukchi mountain range includes the Aniuy Uplands and the northern part of the Chukchi Uplands. The Aniuy Mountians is in the Greater Aniuy river basin – the only area in the region where you can see recently formed volcanoes.  The Okhotsk-Chukchi range includes the Anadyr Mountains and the southern part of the Chukchi Uplands. Alpine style mountains gradually give way to foothills and plains. Typical altitudes are about 1,600 – 1,800 meters. The Anadyr-Koryak range is in Chukotka’s south –east. A significant part is occupied by the Koryak Range, with ridges divided by depressions, altitudes are around 1,500m.
The Anuiy Lowlands, extending over the lower reaches of the rivers  Greater Anuiy and Lesser Aniuy, the Khetagen and the Yarovaya, constitute gently rolling plains and wetlands. There are many lakes of various sizes with well –developed system of gullies. The Chaun lowlands constitute a gently sloping plain with altitudes around 200 meters with typical patchwork Tundra. The Anadyr lowlands consist of wetlands overlarge areas with numerous lakes.

Fauna & Flora
Flora and Vegetation: 

The vast arctic and sub arctic areas in Chukotka form a unique region for vegetation. The vast majority of the region belongs to the western part of Beringa – the land bridge that used to connect Asia and America.  This region became a cradle of many species and a whole range of plants which spread around the earth’s tundra and taiga zones. Today there are over 900 species of plants, about 400 mosses and 400 lichens in Chukotka.  The Beringia area has the greatest diversity of species. Tundra plants including dwarf birch, Labrador tea, crowberry, blueberry, cowberry, Andromeda, sedges and cotton grasses, mosses and lichens. Forests grow only in the floodplains (willow and poplar groves)and terracesabove them (alderand white birch). Three are many medicinal herbs know to the native peoples. The same for berries.  Edible mushrooms are plentiful.

Birding Highlights: 

Sparse population and lack of access help preserve a remarkable diversity of fauna.  There are about 220 species of birds recoded from the region.  They mainly belong to the “Arctic complex” and the regions fauna has much more in common with Alaska than with anywhere else.  In this regard it is rather unique  as many species can be found here and not in any other part of the country.  A number species are endangered including the yellow-biled loon and spoonbiled sandpiper.  Very few species  winter here , the majority are migratory.  Chukotka’s coastal waters are an important habitat. There is a wide varity of species including Brunnich’s guillemot, horned and tufted puffins, little, parakeet, lesser and crested auks.  Native peoples collect a large number of eggs from these colonies each year.

Mammals:

There are a surprising number of mammals, many of them marine mammals that either visit or make Chukotka their home.  These include Polar Bear, brown bear,  reindeer, snow sheep, sable, lynx, wolf and fox.  Marine Mammals include grey, bowhead (both these species are hunted by the indigenous people under quota from the International whaling community) humpback fin, blue, beluga, sperm  and killer whale.  Walrus occur in large numbers around the coast and are also hunted under quota by the indigenous peoples.