Fauna

The millenary and intrusive action of the man caused the complete extinction of wild herbivores in Majella and the extreme rarefaction of the most valuable fauna in the Park. The last specimen of Chamois in the massif has been shot in ‘800, likewise the roe and the deer. The Bear, reduced to few specimens, survived in precarious conditions in the most impenetrable forests, like the Otter. Only the Wolf, especially because of the plenty of flocks and its higher livability, survived the annihilation.

Thanks to the spreading of the environmental conservation topic, even among the local population, and to the remarkable efforts made by the National Forest Rangers, the National Park of Abruzzo, the WWF Italy, the Italian Alpine Club (CAI), by several municipalities - Lama dei Peligni, Palombaro, Fara San Martino, Sant'Eufemia a Majella – and thanks to the Park safeguard activities, the situation radically changed.

The Deer and the Roe live today in all the wooded areas and in the clearings of the Park, respectively with about 150 and 100 specimens.
The Abruzzi Chamois became one more time undisputed master of peaks and high-altitudes grasslands, where live about 130 specimens and they can regularly breed.

The Marsican Brown Bear, with about 15/20 units, has been sighted in every corner of the Park.
The Apennine Wolf (about 30 specimens) given the plenty of natural preys, forgot the dumps and came back to the ancient predatory habits.

The Otter, the most particular animal of the Park, has been sighted in the Orfento and the Orta rivers and, sometimes, in the Vella and Aventino too.

The Park forest environments, now subjected to a wise policy that brings about a rational use of wooded resources, host the Mountain Cat, the Marten, the Beech-Marten, the Weasel, the Polecat, the White-Backed Woodpecker, the Honey-Buzzard, the Goshawk and many other species, among which very unusual amphibious such as the Yellow-Bellied Toad, the Apennine Salamander and the most unusual Spectacled Salamander (Salamandridae Terdigitata).

The hard and great calcareous gorges, typical of the Majella, represent the ideal haunt for the Golden Eagle, the Chough, the Alpine Chough, the Nuthatch, the Peregrin Hawk and the rare Lanner.
On high altitudes, in contact with the magnificence of the infinite space, in the mugo-pine forests and in the high-altitudes grasslands live the unusual Orsini Viper, the Snow Bird, the Alpine Accentor and the Snow Fieldmouse.

The Dotterel is the most particular species of Majella: the Park represents, for this nice bird, its last haunt in all the Mediterranean Europe, including the Alps.
Like a multicoloured painting, the Majella is embellished by the colors of butterflies, being here almost all the Italian diurnal species (116 out of 131) and the nocturnal ones (700).

Moreover, there are many insects that solely live in the Park such as the Coleopteron “Polydrusus lucianae”, connected to the beechwoods, or the orthopteran “Italopodisma lucianae” living in the high-altitudes grasslands.

DON’T MISS: Faunistic Area of Wolf in Pretoro, Faunistic Area of Roe in Serramonacesca, Faunistic Area of Deer in Gamberale, Faunistic Area and Museum of Chamois in Lama dei Peligni.