The widest plain expanses, a wild field, overgrown with flowers and grasses - that's what the steppe is. These are hectares of endless lands, breathing freedom, heated by summer heat, blown out by all winds or frozen in winter cold. Ruined by river channels, free, like the soul of a Russian man, the wild steppe is sung in folk songs. She was admired, loved, protected. In today's world, there are few undeveloped spaces. The steppes were plowed and sown with wheat, oats, rye. The same fields that remained intact or were abandoned and again covered with herbs, continue to fascinate at any time of the year.
What is the steppe in the geography of Russia? This vast expanse that stretches from the most western Russian suburbs to Siberia, covering the territory to the Black, Azov Seas and the Caspian Sea and reaching the Caucasus Mountains. Through the steppe belt, such large rivers as the Volga, the Don, the Ob and the Dnieper bear their waters. It is somewhere flat, somewhere slightly hilly terrain on which sometimes, here and there, there are small islets of trees.
The nature of the steppes is diverse. The steppe in the spring is a huge territory, covered with a rich variety of colors. Riot of colors, a real palette of the artist - that's what the steppe is at this time of year. The islets of bright red and yellow tulips coexist with purple violets, blue and lilac hyacinths, golden sparks of adonis, and all this amid the bright green grass. A bit later, at the beginning of June, this spring multicolored is replaced by an equally bright palette of summer flowers - the expanses are covered with blue forget-me-nots, red poppies, irises, yellow tansy, wild peonies. July is the time of flowering of violet sage. In the second half of the summer the steppe turns white, covered with glades of camomiles, clover and the twill. In the hot season, when the sun rises high and dries the earth, and rains are rare, the steppe is like an endless burnt canvas. Here and there, among the faded stems of cereal grasses, gray threads of feather grass waving. When the hot sun finally "works" over the vast expanses, the faded rolling of cracked earth will roll the rolling fields of the rolling field. These are linked together various plants, forming a lump and moving through the expanse, spreading their seeds.
The fauna of the steppes is also rich. For him, what is the steppe? These are harsh living conditions, to which the inhabitants of the vast expanses are forced to adapt. In the steppe, a large number of rodents are engaged: gophers, mole rats, jerboas, marmots, some kinds of hares. All of them build their holes with numerous moves, underground. Among the hoofed animals there are various kinds of gazelles, antelopes. Not rare in the steppes and snakes. Birds of prey are represented by steppe eagles, kestrel, luny. In addition, in the steppes there is a bustard and various species of small birds, such as larks. Inhabit in the steppes are predatory animals. Steppe wolves and jackals are especially dangerous in the winter. When the steppe was still poorly developed, it was not uncommon for wolf packs to attack humans.
The steppe is also found on other continents. However, there it has other names. In America - it's prairies, in Africa - savannah.