The Dauria Region’s Dzer

The Mongolian Gazelle, known as Dzer in the Mongolia language, is an emblematic species for the Dauria region. An endemic of Central Asia, the Mongolian Gazelle is the last large herbivore on the Eurasian continent that still migrates in herds consisting of thousands of animals. Occurring across China, Russia and Mongolia, around one million Mongolian Gazelles inhabit the Daurian steppe. The bulk of the population is located in eastern Mongolia, while a small resident herd (which numbered 700–900 animals in 2007) is found in Russia after the species was reintroduced in 2000 following its extinction in that area.

Population dynamics, migration and distribution of the Mongolian Gazelle are thought to relate to drought cycles and other climatic phenomena in the Dauria, and are affected by human activities including hunting, boundary fences, road-building, grazing and oil extraction.