Can wildlife coexist with 4 million people in a city full of apartment blocks, busy thoroughfares and noise? It certainly can and the Greek capital has a wealth of fauna, according to the deputy mayor of Athens in charge of issues related to greenery and animal protection, who recently published a catalog of the wild animals living in the city, compiled in 2015.

“Our wild friends are usually hiding in the woods and hills that are maintained by the Parks Directorate and avoid coming into contact with humans,” says Giorgos Apostolopoulos. “[Before the catalog was compiled] citizens would report sightings of wild animals, some of which were confirmed by municipal workers, but there had been no systematic effort to create a record of the city’s biodiversity.”

According to Apostolopoulos, a fox was spotted recently near the courtyard of the Elpis Hospital in the neighborhood of Ambelokipi, north of central Athens. “It had come from the Attiko Woods on the Tourkovounia hills, where we have confirmed the presence of a small population of foxes. There also used to be foxes on Lycabettus Hill and in the Elaionas district and every so often we see some at the Municipal Plant Nursery in Goudi that have strayed from Mount Ymittos.”

Hedgehogs are a more common sight and they live on Tourkovounia and Philopappou hills, as well as in some empty fields in Elaionas.

Sightings of squirrels have been on the rise in recent years at the National Garden, particularly on the weekends. “Someone obviously released them from captivity there at some point but the fact that they have survived shows that the garden is being kept in very good shape as a natural habitat,” says Apostolopoulos. Bats can be seen flying over the capital every night, while there are rumors that there are also a few badgers in our midst.