Europe Explored » species of mammals

National Park Kalkalpen in Upper Austria

Claire — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:06:13 +0000

The National Park Kalkalpen in the South of Upper Austria covers 21 km2 of mixed woods of Reichraminger Hintergebirge and Sengsengebirge make it the largest protected forest area in Austria. The National Park Kalkalpen includes the Sengsengebirge Mountains and Reichraminger Hintergebirge Mountains, parts of the Northern Alp Foreland and parts of the Northern Calcareous Alps.

The park is famous for its many brooks and sources and offers great hiking opportunities. The highest mountain in the park is the Hohe Nock Mountain (1963 metres high). The majority of the park (80%) is covered with forest, which host some 50 species of mammals, 80 songbirds, 1600 butterflies.

From the botanical point of view, there more than 1000 different species of higher plants. Much of the flora and fauna of the park is typically alpine. The National Park Kalkalpen is also near some of Upper Austria’s most attractive historical spots, such as the towns of Enns or Steyr.

View National Park Kalkalpen in Upper Austria in a larger map

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Finland – Northern Lights

Claire — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:48:08 +0000

Finland, officially the Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomi), is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden on the west, Norway on the north and Russia on the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland. The capital city is Helsinki.

Finnish forests offer not a large number of species. The importance of landscape and forestry has only pine, spruce and birch. With considerable isolation of the country and small population, many species that are now very rare in othe rparts of Europe, survived in the wild here. In southern and central Finland, you can normally see the elk, the largest of nearly seventy species of mammals. There are living several hundreds of brown bears. In addition, there are living arctic foxes, wolves, lynx, marten, muskrat, beavers, otters, wolverines, lemmings, hares and hedgehogs.

All the water in Finland is so clean that also in Tampere – Finland’s third largest city, you can find trouts in the lake that is in the middle of the city.

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