Turisme d’Elx :: Wildlife

Valencià

Castellano

Wildlife

The borough of Elx, covering 326 km2, offers its visitors a wide range of scenery, habitats and flora and fauna. This latter can be divided into three different ecosystems: the hills and downs forming the borough’s inland sierra; the coastal dune systems and the wetlands typical of Mediterranean coastal areas that are found between the above two areas.

The existence of wetlands is a typical feature of the Valencian landscape. These are low-lying, marshy areas also known as marjal, carrizal, saladar, and almarjal, having all of the typical features and vegetation of such wetlands. Today most of Valencia’s wetlands have disappeared and those that survive are noticeably retreating and suffering from a process of degradation.

In spite of the above, public awareness of environmental problems and the creation of legislation dealing with protected natural areas have been successful, in part, in putting a stop to the destruction of some highly ecologically important wetlands.