What animals can you find in Mongolia?

[question from Sam, Julia, Annabel, Victoria, Patrick and Aaron]

Mongolia is a place that is of great interest to animal-lovers. If one looks hard enough you can find some of the rarest animals in the world:

The snow leopard lives in some of the mountains in the west of Mongolia. It’s a beautiful animal, but is sadly being hunted to make medicines. As a result, the snow leopard is an endangered species – whilst Mongolia has the second largest number of snow leopards in the world, only 500-1000 are thought to live there.

The Gobi bear is another animal that is close to extinction. It has been many years since someone has spotted one, so people are worried that they may already have died out.

On a more positive note, a success story is the Przewalski horse. Fifty years ago it was close to extinction, but now the numbers are growing. The Przewalski horse is very unique – it is the only wild horse in the whole world. All other horses have been bred by men, but the Przewalski horse remains the same as it did hundreds of years ago.

Some explorers recently found a new species of mouse in the Mongolian desert, the "long-eared jerboa". Have a look at the following video clip for more information:

People in the countryside often have a few horses or camels to help them with their work and to transport them from place-to-place. They also have a dog to guard their house. Farmers will sheep, yaks and cows, and will take them to market when they are ready to be sold.

Marmots are everywhere in the countryside, you can spot there holes all over the place. Mongolians love to eat marmot meat, so in the summertime they will catch the marmots and roast them.

Cats are found in cities, but they are generally not liked by Mongolians. They are thought to bring bad luck, so are quickly chased away!