The Vienna Woods Biosphere Reserve, the Lainz Game Preserve and the Lobau - part of the Donau-Auen National Park - offer a unique habitat for many animals and plants. Yet the green city center and parks, numerous communal gardens, landscaped house walls and roof terraces as well as around 27,000 allotments also contribute to Vienna's impressive array of species. Here are a few key figures:

• 135 protected species of butterfly
• 320 nesting sites for kestrels
• 20 species of bat (out of a total of 28 species across Austria)
• 200 beavers in the Lobau
• 19 species of fish in the Old Danube.
• 2,400 types of plant
• 450 types of wild bee

Show all pictures

1 /of 9

9 pictures

In addition, around 600 beekeepers are active in Vienna. Bees love Vienna and even live on the roofs of the Vienna State Opera and the Naturhistorisches Museum Vienna. Schönbrunn Zoo, the oldest zoo in the world, is concerned with humane animal keeping: every year, many young animals are born and thus contribute to the goal of species conservation. And the Schönbrunn Palm House contains an example of the "Wollemia nobilis", one of the rarest and oldest species of tree in the world, with a history going back 200 million years.

It's hard to believe, but even the Central Cemetery has formed its own ecosystem: deer, hedgehogs, and foxes use the seclusion and extensive area as a habitat.

Event tips:

• Garden exhibitions: in spring
• Am Himmel Bee Festival at Am Himmel: in autumn
• Vienna autumn days at Burggarten in the Palmenhaus: in autumn