Natural History
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
| Area of Search | Bedfordshire |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TL005205 |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 73.36 hectare (181.27 acre) |
| Notification | 1987 |
| Location map | Natural England |
The downs are home to a wide variety of wildlife including many rare wild flowers, such as the Bee Orchid, and different butterfly species, like the Marbled White and the Chalkhill Blue.
Areas of the west-facing slope were notified in 1987 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) called Dunstable and Whipsnade Downs. This includes parts of Whipsnade Zoo.
Read more about this topic: Dunstable Downs
Famous quotes containing the words natural history, natural and/or history:
“To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or sea-side stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of those which are worth turning round.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.”
—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
“The true theater of history is therefore the temperate zone.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)