Among the seeming monotony of the steppes of the European part of Russia, there are oases of life, filled with the hubbub of birds and concentrating all the steppe inhabitants around them.
These are reservoirs scattered among the dried-up spaces - artesians, small lakes formed by the spills of artesian wells. While conducting studies of steppe species of animals, zoologists have repeatedly been convinced that, despite their small size, artesians play an important role for the few remaining undisturbed areas of the steppes. Many vulnerable and endangered species of birds and mammals depend on these small salt lakes in the steppe.