Читать книгу Italy's Sibillini National Park. Walking and Trekking Guide онлайн

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There is also exciting news about wolves in the area. Censuses carried out using the technique of wolf-howling confirm that 20 wolves currently roam the park. Similar to a German shepherd dog, with a reddish-brown coat and grey overtones, Canis lupus talicus is a tad smaller than his North American counterpart; a full-grown male can weigh up to 35kg and a female 25kg. The wolves’ favourite prey are deer, though they do not disdain hares, birds and rodents.

Orsini’s viper, a rare sighting

Roe deer are fairly common in the woods, and a recent project saw the re-introduction of 49 magnificent red deer from Tarvisio in the northern Italian Alps. Concentrated in the thickly forested central valleys of the park near Castelsantangelo sul Nera, several of them wear radio collars to enable zoologists to track them. The Park Visitor Centre there also manages an enclosure for animals in need of temporary assistance.

Shy wild boars feast on nuts and fruit in the beech woods, which also provide good cover. Evidence of their presence comes in the form of excrements, hoofprints and mud baths. Prolific breeders, they have been introduced all the way down the Italian peninsula by hunting enthusiasts though they are protected within the park confines. The newcomers have replaced the native type, smaller in size and less fertile.