Animal resources from Asia
Tagged: animal, animals, bird, cat, fish, mammal
Domesticated animals-principally sheep and goats, but also cattle, poultry, and pigs in agricultural areas-are the most economically important animal species. Hides, wool, and dairy products are of great economic significance in many areas. In Central Asia the horse and the yak traditionally are the riding animal and the beast of burden, respectively; in Arabia the camel is both. Reindeer herds are kept in the northern tundra of Siberia, where they feed on mosses and shrubs. In India cattle are especially prized as sources of milk and butter, and the oxcart is still ubiquitous in rural areas. In India, Myanmar, and Thailand elephants work as draft animals in the lumbering industry; particularly in Southeast Asia the water buffalo is an important draft animal as well as a source for milk and butter.
Among Asia’s populations of wild animals, the valuable fur-bearing mammals of Siberia have long been hunted. North of the Himalayas, game birds such as ptarmigans, grouse, plovers, and various kinds of waterfowl are found. South of the Himalayas, pigeons, pheasants, and other game birds are taken. Various kinds of hawks and falcons, trained to hunt, have their habitat in Arabia and other parts of Asia.
Fish and other sea creatures and various kinds of crustaceans and mollusks are heavily exploited by the populations of East and Southeast Asia. The coastal areas of India, Bangladesh, and Thailand are being developed for export shrimp farming on a large scale. Numerous freshwater species-such as the sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and the rivers of Siberia, which is prized for its caviar-are also commercially significant, although the Caspian is threatened with polluted water from the Volga and by contaminants and spills from the oil industry. The Indus has its own species of blind dolphin, and the great rivers of South Asia are home to the giant mahseer fish, threatened by pollution, overfishing, and habitat loss.
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