Nature of Georgia: Photo Galleries

Gallery 2: Mesophylic mountain forest landscapes
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This is the most peculiar and diverse landscape of Georgia . Extermally Georgian forests are similar to ones in Alps or Carpathiand, but the diversity of plant and animal species is much higher, with very high proportion of endemic species that remained here since Pliocene time. This area has outstanding level of humidity, resembling somewhat temperate rainforests of British Columbia . In some parts of the area, the annual rainfall exceeds 3,000 and even 4,000 mm. Climate mild, although in winter deep snow cover is usual. Vegetation is extremely diverse, especially in the southwestern part of the country, and over a quarter of the species are endemics of the region. Five species of Rhododendrones are found nowhere else in the world. The area harbors several species of endemic shrews, snow voles, over ten endemic rock lizards of genus Darevskia , some of that breed parthenogenetically; endemic adders, toads, mud-divers, Caucasian brook salamander, spectacular banded newt, diverse running beetles and slugs, various ferns. Brown bear, roe deer, wolf, and jackal are common. Some leopards still inhabit primary forests of the eastern great Caucasus.

Brook with ostrich fern	Acer trautvetteri	Ananuri	Asplenium scolopendrium
Bufo verrucosissimus	Crataegus monogyna	Darevskia dahli	Darevskia derjugini
Darevskia mixta	Darevskia parvula	Darevskia portschinskii	Darevskia praticola
Darevskia rudis	Digitalis ferruginea	Eggs of Pieris sp.	Fagus orientalis forest in Tsivi-Gombori mountains
Ferns of the Baniskhevi valley	Geranium roberti	Helicella sp.	Helix buchi
Hey harvesting in Tsikhisjvari	Lickens in Borjomi area	Liver moss in Baniskhevi valley	Mertensiella caucasica
Not-identified fly	Pelodytes caucasicus	Pieris brassicae	Pieris sp.
Potamon tauricum	Pyrus sp.	Rana macrocnemis	Ribes biebersteinii
Shrub of Rhododendron ponticum	Slug from Baniskhevi valley	Slug	Sorbus sp.
Staphylea pinnata	Tree with lichens in Bakuriani	Trialeti mountains in winter	Triturus vittatus
Vanessa atlanta	Zygaena filipendulae