Abruzzo National Park. What to see and do...

Now native only to the region of Abruzzo is the Marsicano Bear which with only around forty animals in existence is officially a threatened species. Once upon a time the Marsicano bear was to be found throughout the Appennine mountains of central Italy from Le Marche down to Puglia.

Over the last forty years numbers have gradually declined from around sixty in 1969 to the forty or so that survive today principally within the Abruzzo National Park and regional parks. Whilst the greater part of the poulation is centred in Abruzzo sightings have been made as far afield as the Reatino mountains of Lazio and also the Sibillini mountains of Le Marche.

The Italian word for bear is 'Orso' and the Orso Marsicano is the symbol used all over Abruzzo to indicate the 'Parco Nazionale D'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise' the Abruzzo National Park. Abruzzo is know as Europe's Greenest Region and contains a surprising number of protected areas:

• National Park - Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise
• National Park - Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga
• National Park - Majella
• Regional Park - Sirente Velino
• Protected Marine Reserve - Torre del Cerrano

The list continues at length and can be studied further on the Official Italian Parks site.

The habitat of these magnificent creatures is somewhat varied. As long as there are wooded areas nearby and no human activity then all is well. In the summer they tend towards more open meadowed spaces with lots of cespugli (bushes) retracting in the winter towards more rocky and isolated locations.

Adult males weigh in at around 95 to 150Kg (that's a lot of bear!) and when standing on their hind legs reach a height of around 1.9m The females are around 25% smaller. The Marsicano is a sub-species of the somewhat larger Brown Bear (Ursus Arctos) of which there remain some 200,000 mainly in North America. Efforts have been made to re-introduce the Brown Bear to the Italian Alps with some success; there are now in the region of twenty five and breeding is hoped to continue.

The Marsicano Bear is extremely nocturnal and likewise territorial marking out its territory as a function of available food from ten to two hundred square kilometres.

The males in particular are prone to 'move house' quite often and over large distances sometimes resulting in 'clashes' with mankind that don't always go too well for the bears.

The period between summer and autumn is taken up with foraging in preparation for the winter hibernation. They need to store up large fatty deposits to last them through until the following Spring. The diet is mainly made up of fruit, tubas, root vegetables and berries. They also eat small animals and occassionally larger ones!