The animal life of highlands

Abstract

The animal life of highlands includes the hypsobiont species, the hypsophile visitors from lowland ecosystems, recent colonies from lower elevations and species accidentally or passively transported to highlands. The hypsobiont animals are mountain authchthonous forms. As all animal life evolved primarily in an environment of dense atmosphere near sea level, the hypsobiont species represent specialization to the environmental conditions of thin atmosphere, developed on site in the course of the uplift of the ground to high elevation. The hypsobiont animals differ from the lowland forms in their ecological, physiological and structural peculiarities, in their origin, evolution and history. They must be distinguished from the numerous species, which wander entirely accidentally to highland areas and from the hypsophiles, which migrate regularly and periodically to elevated regions. Then there are also a number of interesting species, which are passively transported by winds; they are all not permanent residents that breed and develop exclusively at high altitudes.