Nature
Fauna
Lipizzaner horse
The Lipizzan breed dates back to the 16th century, when it was developed with the support of the Habsburg nobility. The horses take their name from one of the oldest stud farms where the breed developed, Lipica, a karst countryside village in west Slovenia, close to the Slovene-Italian border.
Lipizzans are compact and muscular, with very powerful hindquarters, allowing them to do the difficult "High School" (Dressage) movements, including the "airs above the ground". They generally have a strong-featured head with a convex profile, set high on a well-muscled, arched neck. They have short cannons, their legs have good bone, and well-sloped shoulders. Their gaits are powerful and elastic, although different in style from the Warmblood breeds seen in many Dressage competitions. Lipizzans are naturally balanced, well-known for excellent trainability and intelligence. Aside from the rare solid-colored horse, all Lipizzans are gray.
Geography
Slovenia is situated in Central Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. The Alps — including the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps and the Karavanke chain, as well as the Pohorje — dominate Northern Slovenia along its long border to Austria.
Slovenia's Adriatic coastline streches approximately 50 kilometers from Italy to Croatia.
The term "Karst" originated in Southern Slovenia's Kras Plateau (German Karst Plateau), a limestone region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves, between Ljubljana and Mediterranean.
On the Pannonian plain to the East and Northeast, toward the Croatian and Hungarian borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, the majority of Slovenian terrain is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of the surface 200 meters or more above sea level.
Area
- Total: 20,273 km²
Borders
- Land boundaries
- Total: 1,334 km
- Border countries: Austria 330 km, Croatia 670 km, Italy 232 km, Hungary 102 km
- Coastline: 46.6 km
Elevation extremes
- Lowest point: Adriatic Sea 0 m
- Highest point: Triglav 2,864 m (9,396 feet)
Climate
On the coast is Submediterranean, in the mountains is Alpine and continental with cold winters and mild to hot summers in the plateaus and valleys to the east. The average temperatures are -2°C (28°F) in January and 21°C (70°F) in July. The average rainfall is 1,000 millimetres (39.4 in) for the coast, up to 3,500 millimetres (138 in) for the Alps, 800 millimetres (31.5 in) for south east and 1,400 millimetres (55 in)for central Slovenia.