Devínska Kobyla (; hu, Dévényi-tető; german: Thebener Kogel) is the highest peak in the

Devín Carpathians Forest in Devín Carpathians Ruins of the Devín Castle Devín Carpathians ( sk, Devínske Karpaty, ) is a subdivision of the Little Carpathians mountain range, located entirely within Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is bordered by the ...

, part of the

Little Carpathians The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', sk, Malé Karpaty; german: Kleine Karpaten; hu, Kis-Kárpátok) are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slov ...

mountain range, and the highest point of

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, the capital of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. It is located between the boroughs of

Devínska Nová Ves Devínska Nová Ves ( hu, Dévényújfalu, hr, Devinsko Novo Selo, german: Theben-Neudorf) is a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Its western borders are formed by the Morava River, which also forms the national border between Slova ...

Devín Devín (, hu, Dévény, german: Theben) is a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, located in the Bratislava IV district. Originally a separate village at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, Devín maintained its rural cha ...

and Dúbravka, close to the border with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Its peak elevation is 514 m (1686.3 ft)

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

and its treeless summit contains an abandoned military missile base ( sk, Rádiotechnická hláska protivzdušnej obrany štátu) that is officially inaccessible to the public. Part of southern slopes of the massif has been a national natural reserve since 1965, featuring unique xerothermic forest-steppe

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

with a total protected area of 101

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s. From the flat top, a view opens of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and the Morava river. Hiking trails do not lead to the summit but instead to an accessible point with partial view underneath.

Description

Devínska Kobyla and its surroundings are one of the four divisions of

, part of

, itself part of the

Carpathian mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

Flora and fauna

The small area contains 234 species of identified

mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the na ...

, 110 species of identified

lichens A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus, fungi species in a mutualism (biology), mutualistic relationship.moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

, and 1,110 species of identified higher or

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

. The southern and south-western slopes of the mountain at the western edge of

provide ideal living conditions for xerothermic forest-steppe

and

. The woods on the south-western slopes are the remains of the original

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

forest.

Hiking

There is a four-kilometer instructive path that leads through Devínska Kobyla, with one significant area called

Sandberg Sandberg may refer to: People * Sandberg (surname) Places * Sandberg, Bavaria - municipality in the district of Rhön-Grabfeld in Bavaria in Germany * Sandberg (Celtic settlement) - archaeological site on hill ridge in the northwestern part of t ...

. This is one of the most important palaeontological localities in

. The yellow faces of the old sandpit has remnants of rocks of the tertiary sea with horizontally deposited layers, and there are still

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

of sea

to be found there. The age of these rocks is estimated to be between 14 and 16 million years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devinska Kobyla Geography of Bratislava Mountains of Slovakia Mountains of the Western Carpathians

Description

Flora and fauna

Hiking

See also

References