TURKEY
Plants and Animals

Cities in TURKEY

Akyarlar	Alanya	Ankara
Antalya	Beldibi	Belek
Bodrum	Colakli	Fethiye
Gumbet	Içmeler	Istanbul
Kemer	Konakli	Kumkoy
Kusadasi	Lara	Marmaris
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Plants and Animals

Plants

Tulips Turkey_{Photo: Antonio Christofaro CC3.0 Unported no changes made}

There is a lot of grassland in the dry heart of the Central Plateau. Steppes can be found on the flanks of extinct volcanoes such as Kara Dag and Erciyas Dagi, whose higher slopes are often forested, as well as on the plateaus of eastern Turkey between the mountains. Lush grass growth occurs in spring and summer on the slopes of the Taurus and Antitaurus. Centuries of logging and grazing have thinned and reduced forests (from 70% to 26% of the surface) and even changed their composition. Due to the constant grazing of goats in the western coastal mountains, the thickets predominate there. Turkey's densest forests are in the north, on the northern slopes of the Pontic Mountains near the Black Sea. The tulip is Turkey's national flower.

Animals

Turtle Turkey_{Photo: Vadim Indeikien CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}

Brown bear, wolf, wild boar and panther still occur here and there; the tiger has been exterminated, the lion has disappeared a long time ago. For the bird world, Turkey is an important place to pass through in the migration; the Bosporus is known for the large habitat of migratory birds in autumn and spring. Many birds of prey, cormorants, storks and pelicans breed in Turkey; the bald ibis is a dying breeding bird. A well-known reserve is Lake Manyas in western Asian Turkey, an important nesting and wintering place for birds.

The sea water is populated by mackerels, sea bass, dolphins, sardines, tunas, morels, eels and squid. Large sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand along the south coast.

Grey Wolf Turkey_{Photo: Quadell CC 3.0 Unported np changes made}

The national animal of Turkey is the grey wolf, the national bird is the thrush.

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Sources

Brosnahan, T. / Turkey
Lonely Planet

Graven, R. van den / Reishandboek Turkije
Elmar

Te gast in Turkije
Informatie Verre Reizen

Turkije
Het Spectrum

CIA - World Factbook
BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated November 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info