Not Just Tourism Anymore! Antalya's Wildlife is Gaining Attention
Veterinarian and wildlife observer Doğanay Vural has prepared and presented a documentary video about the wildlife of Antalya, where he observed caretta caretta turtles, bats, brown bears, lynxes, and wild boars.
For years, veterinarian Doğanay Vural has been observing wildlife in the mountains and forests. In the tourism city of Antalya, he captured unique footage. By showing that Antalya is not just a tourist city, Vural has released the documentary on his YouTube channel.
Regarding the documentary, Vural told İHA correspondent: "I am researching nature and wildlife in Turkey and working on a thesis in veterinary medicine. My thesis is about 'testing the migration routes of brown bears and determining their habitats.' As part of the 'Wildlife of 81 Provinces of Turkey' project, we traveled to Antalya and made a documentary about the city's wildlife. While everyone imagines Antalya as a place for swimming, traveling, and vacationing, for me, Antalya is a special place with diverse ecosystems, from the peaks of the Taurus Mountains to sea level."
"We observed wild boars walking alongside tourists" Vural explained that the documentary was made to showcase the lesser-known beauties of Antalya. He said: "We filmed a brown bear in Antalya, and when we asked local people 'what is a brown bear doing here?' they were surprised. We also managed to observe and film caretta caretta turtles at sea level. However, we encountered several negative situations, such as protected caretta caretta turtles losing one of their flippers due to getting caught in fishermen’s lines. This is disheartening. One such caretta caretta was covered in algae because it couldn’t move. We also had the opportunity to observe mountain goats in the Taurus Mountains. When we came down to the city center, we saw wild boars walking alongside tourists.” Vural noted that in Antalya, there is an intersection of human and wildlife habitats due to the construction of hotels and houses. Vural also mentioned that the next stop in the 'Wildlife of 81 Provinces of Turkey' project will be Bolu.
