TURKEY’S FAUNA

Gazelle

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. Birds have taken advantage of Turkey's strategic position as a bridge connecting Europe to Asia and Africa for thousands of years. Two of the four main migration routes in the bio-geographic region come through here, in spring and autumn.

Despite the fact that Turkey is an ancient land, crossed, exploited and sought over by a succession of peoples for millennia, there are still many areas which have remained virtually untouched, enabling many rare species of wildlife which have become endangered or extinct elsewhere to maintain viable colonies here. Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean shores provide a refuge for monk seals and loggerhead turtles, while its wetlands house colonies of numerous endangered species, such as the Dalmation pelican, pygmy cormorant and the slender billed curlew, as well as flamingoes, wild ducks and geese.

Caretta Caretta

Other endangered species include turtles which lay their eggs in the long sandy beaches of the Mediterranean. Two species breed in Turkey, where efforts to protect them have been extremely successful. A tourism development project at Koycegiz has been scrapped to preserve the breeding grounds of Caretta Caretta, and the lake and marshes of Koycegiz declared an Specially Protected Area. These measures were received with a standing ovation by the Standing Committee of Bern Convention of the Council of Europe in 1989, and cited as an example for other countries to follow.

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