They provide the habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears, wolves, chamois, and lynxes, with the highest concentration in Romania, as well as over one third of all European plant species. The Carpathians and their foothills also have many thermal and mineral waters, with Romania having one-third of the European total. Romania is likewise home to the second -largest surface of virgin forests in Europe after Russia, totaling 250,000 hectares (65%), most of them in the Carpathians, with the Southern Carpathians constituting Europe 's largest unfragmented forested area.The Carpathians consist of a chain of mountain ranges that stretch in an arc from the Czech Republic (3%) in the northwest through Slovakia (17%), Poland (10%), Hungary (4%) and Ukraine (10%) Serbia (5%) and Romania (50%) in the southeast. The highest range within the Carpathians is the Tatras, on the border of Slovakia and Poland, where the highest peaks exceed 2,600 m (8,530 ft). The second -highest range is the Southern Carpathians in Romania, where the highest peaks exceed 2,500 m (8,202 ft).
The divisions of the Carpathians are usually in three major sections:
Western Carpathians— Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary
Eastern Carpathians—southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, and Romania
Southern Carpathians—Serbia and RomaniaThe term Outer Carpathians is frequently used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians.
The most important cities in or near the Carpathians are: Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia, Kraków in Poland, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, and Braşov in Romania, and Uzhhorod in Ukraine.
