Fauna
The fauna of the Park offers examples of exceptional value, with species which alone could justify the existence of the protected area
After years of intolerance and persecution, this area is now defended as a whole, thanks to the educational and safeguard activities carried out by the Park Authority during the last years. Visitors will not easily sight animals, because they are mainly fleeing, elusive, and cautios, maybe because they remember the negative experience they had with men. However, in some seasons of the year and in particular circumstances (peacefulness, silence, and respect of the environment), it is possible to observe also the most spectacular and representative animals of the Park, like the
Abruzzi Chamois, the
Marsican Brown Bear, the
Wolf, the Deer, and the Golden Eagle.
Today the Park houses a great variety of animals which lived in the past in a much larger area of the Apennines: 60 species of mammals, 300 of birds, 40 of reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and several species of insects including important endemic species.

Red deer
(photo by: Cavallari)

Roe deer
(photo by: Valentino Mastrella)