Badkhyz Preserve

a preserve in extreme southern Middle Asia, in the Turkmen SSR, in the interfluve of the Tedzhen and Murgab rivers, in the foothills of the Paropami-sus Mountains. It has an area of 86,000 ha.

The Badkhyz Preserve was created in 1941 to preserve typical subtropical steppe and semidesert terrains. The steppes are covered with sedge, meadow grass, and mixed grass, with patches of the giant umbellifer Ferula badrakema. In the Gezgiadyk Range there are sparse pistachio forests of the savanna type. Of 600 species of higher plants, 60—including the Kushka tulip, the Khorasan sainfoin, and the Agalit milk vetch—are native to the area. The Badkhyz Preserve is the only place in the USSR where the Asiatic wild ass survives in a natural state (in a herd of about 700). The Persian gazelle, the cheetah, and the hyena are also found. There are many rodents, lizards (the largest of which is the monitor), and snakes (the Levantine viper, cobra, and others). In the mountains live the Pamir argali, wild goat, leopard, honey badger, and the Indian crested porcupine; birds include the griffon vulture, black vulture, Egyptian vulture, short-toed eagle, and rock nuthatch.