Читать книгу The GR10 Trail. Through the French Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees онлайн

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A Patou sheep dog guarding a flock of sheep

The density of cattle, sheep and goats on the French side of the Pyrenees is high. You will often see Patou (Pyrenean mountain dogs) guarding unaccompanied flocks of sheep. These large white sheep dogs have been used for hundreds of years by shepherds. Patou are generally well trained and won’t normally be aggressive as long as you stay calm and steer clear of the flocks.

This concentration of livestock means that other mammals are rarer than they used to be. You will have sightings of chamois (isard/izard), which was hunted to near extinction but is now recovering well. Other mammals you will see include marmot, several species of deer, fox, red squirrel and the reintroduced mouflon. (There are also badgers and wild boar but these are less likely to be seen.) The most notable of these are the marmots, which are large ground squirrels that live in burrows. You will certainly know when they are present when you hear their alarm signals, a loud whistle, that sends them scurrying back into their burrows.