The picturesque mountains of the Caucasus served as an inspiration for countless poets and writers. They were also admired by Lermontov, who spent a long time at local resorts. It is not surprising that the people of this region love their nature so much and admire it. The Caucasus Mountains are also popular with climbers and simply travelers due to their transport accessibility.
The length of the Caucasus mountain range reaches 1100 kilometers. This is more than the distance between the Russian and Belarusian capitals. In the widest place, the width of the Caucasus Mountains is almost 180 kilometers. The highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains is Elbrus, the forked peak of which rises more than 5.5 kilometers. Atmospheric pressure at this altitude is only about 50% of the norm. In the whole chain of mountains of the Caucasus, only two peaks above 5 kilometers – Kazbek and the above-mentioned Elbrus. Snow and ice on their tops never melt.
The drink, so popular in Russia, like kefir, was invented just at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, in the Elbrus region. More than 2,000 glaciers flow from the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, and their total area reaches 1,400 square kilometers, which is twice as large as the area of Singapore. Representatives of 50 different nations living in 20 different languages live in the vicinity of the Caucasus Mountains.
All flowing from the Caucasian mountain slopes of the river belong to the Black Sea basin. More than 1000 different species of spiders live in the Caucasus Mountains. There are a lot of plants, and 1600 of their species are not found anywhere else in the world.
The total area occupied by the Caucasus mountain range is approximately equal to the total area of Tajikistan. The age of the Caucasus Mountains is relatively small. They were formed about 25 million years ago, which is not too much by geological standards. Among the representatives of fauna present here there are also quite dangerous ones. There are enough, for example, wild bears. Located in the Caucasus Mountains, the Krubera-Voronya cave with a depth of 2191 meters is the deepest in the world. It is located in Abkhazia.
There are more coniferous forests in the Caucasian mountains than deciduous ones, and most often there is such a tree as pine. The Zeigalan Falls, falling from a height of 600 meters, is located in the mountains of the Caucasus, in North Ossetia, and it is one of the highest in Russia. Once in the Caucasus Mountains, leopards lived, but for a long time it was believed that they were extinct in these parts. However, in 2003, the population of wild leopards in the Caucasus was again discovered.
In total, more than 6,300 species of flowering plants grow in the Caucasus mountains. Four countries have direct access to the Caucasus Mountains – Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, as well as partially recognized Abkhazia. It is these mountains that have a significant impact on the climate of the European part of Russia, serving as a natural barrier between the zones of temperate and subtropical climate.
