With over 50% of this tiny central and southeastern european country heavily blanketed with thick forests, Slovenia is home to many native animals.
Roaming through the large forests of beech, fir-beech and oak -beech, primarily in largely unexplored southwestern Slovenia are
wild boar, elk and roe deer. Joining them are an abundant variety of carnivores, flesh-eating animals, such as the asiatic jackall, the arctic wolf, the
wild cat, the cross and the
red fox, the
eurasian lynx, the badger, the ermne, the
european polecat, the
least weasel and the
beech marten. Also in abundance are the
arctic hare and the brown hare, appearing throughout the country.
In the Slovenia Alps, commonly known as the Julian Alps and sharing a northern border with Austria, are marmots making their home on the alpine plains, the Alpine Ibex and the
chamois. All three eat a steady diet of alpine flowers, legumes, nuts and berries, while the edible dormouse is found foraging in the beech forests of Slovenia. As of 2005, there was a limited number of wolves in the country and around 400
brown bears.
Throughout the thick forest of Slovenia, much of this land is forested and a good portion is part of a national preserve, there is a wide variety of birds: the
Tawny Owl, the Longer-eared Owl, the
Eagle Owl, hawks and the Short-toed Eagle, the
White Stork and the Black and the
Green woodpeckers. Also, there are growing number of ravens, crows and magpies in the forests and also in the larger cities of this small country with a population of a little more than 2 million.
The marble trout is a unique native of Slovenia and extensive breeding programs have been introduced throughout the country in an attempt to re-introduce this trout into other lakes and streams of Slovenia, while the bottle-nosed dolphin is commonly spotted off the tiny coast Slovenia shares with the Adriatic Sea that empties into the Mediterranean sea..
The Karst shephard, the famed Lippizan horse and the Carniolean honeybee are unique domestic animals originating in Slovenia.