| Tyuleniy Archipelago | |
| Local Name: | Kazakh: Түлен аралдары |
| Location: | Caspian Sea, |
| Coordinates: | 44.9167°N 72°W |
| Area Km2: | 130 |
| Elevation M: | 2 |
| Population: | 5 |
| Country: | Kazakhstan |
| Country Admin Divisions Title: | Region |
| Country Admin Divisions: | Mangystau Region |
The Tyuleniy Archipelago (Kazakh: Түлен аралдары Tülen araldary, Russian: Тюленьи острова), is an island group in the north-eastern Caspian Sea off the Mangyshlak Bay west of the Mangyshlak Peninsula and about 13km (08miles) northwest of the Tupkaragan Peninsula, 27km (17miles) north of Bautino. Perhaps the most substantial group of islands in the Caspian, they were first accurately mapped by Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov who led the 1719 Caspian Expedition, studying the Caspian Sea from 1719 to 1727.[1]
Administratively, the Tyuleniy Archipelago belongs to the Mangystau Region of Kazakhstan. It was named "Tyuleniy" —meaning "seal"— after the currently endangered Caspian seal.[2]
The islands are desert-like and sandy, with little grass. There are reeds on the leeward side of Kulaly as well as on the other islands, which are much lower and waterlogged. In past centuries many Caspian seals come to the islands' shores, hence the name of the group.
The islands have been declared an Important Bird Area and a National Protected Zone (State Reservation). There are large concentrations of seagulls and wetland birds, like coots, wild ducks, swans, egrets, and waders in the archipelago during their nesting period. The Tyuleniy island group is also an important breeding ground for the Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis).