People come to Tajikistan for the mountains. In the summer, the country is full of mountaineers, rock climbers, hikers and adventurers who want to brave Tajikistan's high peaks. In fact, so much of the country is made up of mountains that some people call Tajikistan the боми дунё (bomi dunyo) -- the roof of the world.
Mountains in Tajikistan are so high -- many of them over 10,000 feet tall -- that they are home to very special high-altitude ecosystems. These ecosystems contain amazing plants and animals, including hoom, a rare bush whose slender green branches have an antiseptic effect and were used as medicine in ancient times; the Eurasian snow leopard; the sure-footed, snake-eating markhor goat, with massive spiral-shaped horns; and the urial sheep. These plants and animals, and many more, are adapted to live in an environment with thin air (there's less oxygen at high altitudes), rocky slopes and plenty of year-round snow.
