Discover Kvarner

FLORA AND FAUNA

The Kvarner has more than 2700 plant species, and thus falls among the richest in flora areas of Croatia. There are some 4300 plant taxons known in Croatia, and 70 percent of all Croatian plants can be found in our County area.

Some of the Kvarner islands (Krk, Cres, Lošinj), with more than 1300 plant species, exceed the number of plant species found in some European countries! The richest in plant species are: the island of Krk, with some 1500 species while in relative terms (in proportion to its surface) the island of Unije, where as much as 629 plant species grow on a surface of only 16 km2 .

Of the 226 rare, endangered and sensitive types of plants, recorded in the RC Plant Species Red Book, 122 species grow in the Kvarner area.
On a small scale, Kvarner represents what Croatian nature is for Europe – an area of extraordinary biological diversity. On this small area we encounter various types of plants and animals, as well as typical habitats of Central Europe, the Alps, the Dinarides' debris, Western and Eastern Mediterranean.
Most birds that are considered to be in extinction in Europe live in the Kvarner area, and - in proportion to their size - the islands of Krk, Cres and Rab are the richest Mediterranean islands, in terms of mammals. A peculiarity of this is the presence of all big European predators in one place.
Here eagles, falcons, griffon vultures, grouses, owls and hawks nest...
Krk is also the island with the greatest number of amphibians and reptiles on the Mediterranean while in the whole Kvarner area 14 snake species have been recorded, which is an indication of ecologically preserved natural habitats.

In the mountains and littoral forests you can still find bears, wolves, lynxes, jackals, wild cats, badgers, foxes, pine and stone martens, deer, does and chamoises, and otters and butterflies can be found along the clean mountain rivers.
The Mediterranean monk seal (monachus) has been scientifically described for the first time on the basis of a sample caught near the island of Cres, and the only permanent north-Adriatic population of dolphins lives in the Kvarner area.