Jeyran Ecocentre

History

The centre was established in 1976 under Uzbekistan's nature-protection authority and covers 5,145 ha. In 1977 forty-two goitered gazelles (jeyran) were brought in and breeding began. By 1987 their number had reached 1,225, and animals were released according to plan into neighbouring and other regions.

A 36 km wire fence two metres high keeps predators out.

What you can see

Besides gazelles, the centre breeds and studies species listed in Uzbekistan's and the international Red Lists: kulans (Asiatic wild asses), Przewalski's horses, Bukhara deer (khangul) and houbara bustards. Przewalski's horse is not native to Uzbekistan's fauna and is kept here specially.

Artificial lakes fed by the Amu-Bukhara canal lie on the southern side, serving as watering holes for the hoofed animals and drawing many waterbirds; in autumn pelicans, swans, geese and birds of prey turn up.

Did you know?

The goitered gazelle is one of the fastest hoofed animals of Central Asia's deserts; in the rutting season the males' throats swell like a goitre, hence the Latin name. Hunting and the ploughing-up of pastures slashed its numbers in the 20th century, and the Jeyran centre played an important part in saving the species.