Bijela Gora (

Montenegrin Cyrillic The Montenegrin alphabet is the collective name given to "''Abeceda''" (#Latin alphabet, Montenegrin Latin alphabet) and "''Азбука''" (#Cyrillic alphabet, Montenegrin Cyrillic alphabet), the writing systems used to Writing, write the Montene ...

, Бијела Гора, , lit. "White Mountain") is a

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

ic high plateau between 1200–1500 m on the northern side of Mount

Orjen Orjen (Serbian Cyrillic: Орјен, ) is a transboundary Dinaric Mediterranean limestone mountain range, located between southernmost Bosnia and Herzegovina and southwestern Montenegro. Its highest peak is Veliki kabao, which stands at . ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. At 1862 m,

Velika Jastrebica Velika Jastrebica (trans. "great she-hawk") is the highest summit of the Bijela Gora plateaux in the north of the Orjen Orjen (Serbian Cyrillic: Орјен, ) is a transboundary Dinaric Mediterranean limestone mountain range, located betwee ...

is the highest summit. It bears heavy

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

traces as a huge ice cap covered it during the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. Sparsely inhabited pastures and vast virgin beech-fir forests are major resources. Also, endemic

Dinaric calcareous Silver Fir forest The dinaric calcareous silver fir forests are an endemic vegetation type of the littoral Dinaric Alps, located in the Dinaric Mountains mixed forests ecoregion in southeastern Europe. Pure stands of dinaric calcareous silver fir (''Abies alba'' ...

s are found at Bijela Gora with rare endemic plants, such as

Bosnian pine ''Pinus heldreichii'' (synonym ''P. leucodermis''; family Pinaceae), the Bosnian pine or Heldreich’s pine, is a species of pine native to mountainous areas of the Balkans and southern Italy. Description It is an evergreen tree up to in height ...

. Fauna of Bijela Gora includes

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

s, wolves, deer, boars, and a small population of

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Ril ...

. Bijela Gora is inhabited by Montenegrin tribes who belong to the Katun clans. Fir trees of Bijela Gora are sung about in local folk songs.

References

Mountains of Montenegro Orjen {{Montenegro-geo-stub