Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area

The Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area is a nature reserve in the Gobi Desert, situated in the southwestern part of Mongolia at the border with China. A similar reserve in the Gobi exists farther to the west - the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area. Both reserves form one unit, the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area (SPA), which encompasses a total of 53000 km2. Great Gobi A is one of the last refuges for critically endangered animals such as the wild Bactrian camel and the Gobi bear.

Location and size
Great Gobi A lies in the southwestern part of Mongolia in an arid region of the Gobi desert. The vegetation is dominated by desert and desert steppe. Great Gobi A is generally drier than Great Gobi B. Together with Great Gobi B, the reserve was established in 1975 and has been designated by the United Nations as an international Biosphere Reserve in 1991. With a total area of about 46369 km2 it is one of the largest reserves worldwide. The headquarters for the Great Gobi SPA is situated in Bayantooroi, a settlement about 20 km north to the Great Gobi A reserve.

Climate
The Climate is extremely "continental". Temperatures in the Gobi can fall to -40 C in winter and rise to +40 C in the summer. With an average yearly rainfall of about 100 mm, the climate is extremely arid.

Fauna
The reserve is an important refuge for some endangered large mammal species, such as the wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus), which was identified as a separate species in 2008 by the Veterinary University of Vienna, the Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis), the snow leopard (Uncia uncia), the argali wild sheep (Ovis ammon) and the Mongolian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemionus). Especially for the wild camel the reserve is important, since it is one of three last locations, where the rare animal can be found. Due to the remoteness and large size of the reserve, it is hard to estimate population numbers or population trends. Estimates for the population of wild camels in the reserve range from about 350 to 1950 individuals. Wolves (Canis lupus), which are also found in the reserve, might be a threat for the calves of wild camels. However, the effects of these predators on the camel population are unclear.

Twenty km from the reserve is the wild camel breeding centre at Zakhyn Us, which was established in 2004 with 12 wild camels which had been caught by Mongolian herdsmen. There were 22 wild camels at the breeding centre in 2014 and in 2013 two bull wild camels were released into the reserve with satellite collars. One of them has formed his own herd with five female wild camels. The breeding centre which is financed by the Wild Camel Protection Foundation and administered by the Director of Gobi "A" covers 40 ha. In 2008 the Veterinary University of Vienna confirmed after extensive DNA testing that the wild camel is a new and separate species which separated from any other known camel species over 750,000 years ago.