Eurasia’s natural zones

The subtropical region has three main zones: hard-leaved evergreen forests and shrubs on the Mediterranean coast (holm oak, olive, myrtle; figs, pomegranates, grapes and citrus are grown); wet monsoon forests in the east (camellia, camphor laurel; panda, leopard, gibbon); and subtropical semi-desert and desert in the interior, similar to Uzbekistan’s deserts: saxaul, wormwood, camel-thorn, goitered gazelle, fox, steppe eagle. In the tropical region there are deserts and savannas: July temperature is above +30 °C and rainfall very low; the Rub’ al Khali in the Arabian Peninsula is one of the world’s largest sand deserts. Tropical savannas have tall grasses, acacia, palm and sal trees. The subequatorial region has savannas and seasonally wet forests: palm, bamboo and acacia in India and Indochina, mangrove forests in the Ganges delta; elephants, tigers, leopards, monkeys and crocodiles live there. The equatorial region has one zone, equatorial wet forest, on the Malay Peninsula and Greater Sunda Islands, wet and hot all year; it has a great many plant species and orangutans, rhinoceroses and wild cattle. Moving towards the equator the warm zones change from desert to savanna and from savanna to wet forest. Shrinking forests (for example in Sumatra and Borneo) endanger animals.