FLORA AND FAUNA
Turkey is a place with splendid beauty, has excellent flora and fauna. The geographical location of Turkey along with its favorable climate has made Turkey very rich about flora and fauna.
FLORA OF TURKEY
The rich Turkish flora includes more than 9.000 varieties of plants. About 3.000 of them are endemic to Turkey and grow in nature nowhere else in the world.
Turkey is the only country in the world under the influence of 3 botanical geographical regions. Also famous bioclimatists concurred that Turkey is the only country in the world subject to three main climates.
Turkey is the center of origin for more that 30 species of fruits, and also a centre for world’s most important plant genetic sources especially for grains and legumes.
ENDEMIC SPECIES
Turkey’s average altitude is over 1100 m. Fed by hundreds of streams, over 10 large rivers, including Euphrates and Tigris, originate from Anatolia mountains and flow to five seas.
Special climates and habitats exist also in and around numerous wetlands and lakes. Around Tuz Lake, more than 30 endemic species of plants grow. As grounds become saltier, attention given to salt resistant plants are becoming more pronounced.
Turkey is also endowed with a diverse richness of medical and aromatic plants. Istanbul supports a remarkably high diversity of plant species with approximately 2000 species. Forests cover 26% of the homeland. Totally 564 species of trees, 76 of them being endemic. The ratio of natural forests to total forest area is 93% in Turkey.
FAUNA OF TURKEY
Turkey’s fauna is so rich, different types of animals, beautiful birds, fish. 40.000 animal species found in Turkey are estimated to be over 80% of the ones found in the whole continent of Europe.
The diversity of fauna in Turkey is even greater than that of wild plants. While the number of species throughout Europe as a whole is around 60.000, in Turkey they number over 80.000. If subspecies are also counted, then this number rises to over a hundred thousand.
