Wildlife of Norway

The habitats include high mountains, tundras, rivers, lakes, wetlands, sea coast and some lower cultivated land in the south.

Mainland Norway has a long coastline, protected by skerries and much dissected by fjords, and the mostly-icebound archipelago of Svalbard lies further north.

The Scandinavian Mountains extend along the length of the country; the average elevation is 460 m (1,510 ft) and 32% of the mainland is located above the tree line.

[1] Further north still, the archipelago of Svalbard has an arctic climate; the land surface on the three large and many smaller islands is 60% glacier ice, 30% rock and scree, and only 10% is vegetated.

Compared to other places at similar latitudes, the temperature is higher because of the warm North Atlantic Current, and the coast normally remains free of ice.

Thus typical boreal species include the Norway spruce and pine, while at higher altitudes deciduous trees like downy birch, grey alder, aspen and rowan predominate.

[8] In parts of the country with a more continental climate, spruce and pine are dominant and grow at higher elevations than other trees, but in other areas, mountain birch forms the tree line, at around 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in central southeastern Norway, descending to 750 m (2,500 ft) at the Arctic Circle and to sea level further north.

Excluding bacteria and viruses but including marine organisms, the total number of animal and plant species in Norway is estimated at 60,000.

This is not the case in winter when the ground is covered in snow, the wetlands in ice and the days are short, so many of the birds are migratory, usually breeding in Norway and overwintering in southern Europe or Africa.