The Alps are a large mountain range in the middle of Europe. They are spread over eight countries: France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany and Slovenia. The Alps are fold mountains. This means that they formed when two large tectonic plates slowly collided, pushing up the ground over tens of millions of years.

The Alps are an interzonal mountain system (Orobiome), or a “transition area” between Central and Mediterranean Europe. The Alps have high habitat diversity, with 200 habitats classified throughout the mountain range. This mountain range is home to a high level of biodiversity.

The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in an 800 km (500 mi) arc (curved line) from east to west and is 200 km (120 mi) in width. The mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km (1.6 mi).

The Alps mountains are the highest and youngest mountains in Europe. Formed around 44 million years ago, they are also the most densely populated with lots of communities contained within the eight Alpine countries they run through.