Chondon

The Chondon (Чондон; Чондоон, Çondoon) is a river in Ust-Yansky District, Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is 606 km long, with a drainage basin of 18900 km2.

The Chondon mammoth was discovered in 2013 in the Chondon basin, at the feet of the Polousny Range, 66 km south-west of the village of Tumat. It had died at the age of 47 to 50 years.

Course
The river begins in the northern slopes of the Selennyakh Range at an elevation of 640 m. It flows roughly northwards west of the Yana River across the Yana-Indigirka Lowland meandering strongly among marshy areas and lakes. In its lower course it flows parallel to the Sellyakh in the east. Yarok Island lies across its mouth, in the Chondon Bay, by the Yana Bay of the Laptev Sea.

There are over 6,600 lakes in the Chondon basin, with a total area of 497 km2. The river freezes yearly between early October and early June.

Tributaries
The main tributaries of the Chondon are the 170 km long Buor-Yuryakh, with its source in the Kyundyulyun, from the left, as well as the 142 km long Ygaanna (Ыгаанньа), the 104 km long Dodomo and the 243 km long Nuchcha (Нучча) from the right.

Fauna
Among the fish species found in the river, muksun, nelma, omul and vendace deserve mention.