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Wild Life
Turkey's Importance in the World of Living
Things
 As
is well known the earth experienced four ice in the last
1.8 million years which greatly influenced the world of
living things, fleeing unfavourable conditions in the north,
took refuge in the Iberian peninsula, Southeast Asia, and
in Anatolia which then offered very favourable survival
conditions. Some of these species returned north during
periods between the ice ages, while some evolved to adapt
to the new conditions of their environment. Others remained
in Anatoli by taking refuge in various biotopes and underwent
further differentiation. In fact, several species of plants
and animals of northern origin are now found in Anatolia.
Between the ice ages Anatolia served as habitat for species
originating in the south and in the east. For these reasons,
Anatolia has historically been and is currently a habitat
of species which originally came from the north, the east
and the south. It therefore is of supreme importance in
the understanding and analysis of the flora and fauna of
Europe, Western Asia and parts of Africa. We might indeed
claim that studies of European and Asian flora and fauna
would be incomplete if they did not take into account the
biological diversity offered by Anatolia, where the coexistence
of a rich variety of living things can be observed.
Additionally, during many historical perriods, Anatolia
served as a passageway between the continents of Europe,
Asia and Africa. A variety of flora and fauna owe their
geographical spread to this passageway. For this reason,
Anatolia gains importance in the analysis of zoo-geographical
developments.
The topography of the Anatolian peninsula exhibits significant
variety where ecological factors change greatly over very
short distances. For this reason, living things have evolved
and differentiated richly and have created a wealth of species
and sub-species. A number of such species and subspecies
have proven to be of economic value to humanity and some
will doubtless be of use in the future.
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