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Le valli, le foreste gli ambienti rocciosi sono popolati da una grande varietà di vertebrati e invertebrati, con numerose specie endemiche o molto rare altrove. Il Parco protegge gran parte delle specie tipiche degli ecosistemi montani e, in particolare, dell’Appennino. Tra i mammiferi, spicca la comunità di ungulati selvatici, con cervi (Cervus elaphus), caprioli (Capreolus capreolus), cinghiali (Sus scrofa) ed esclusivi camosci appenninici (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata): potenziali prede non solo per l’orso, ma anche per il lupo, qui presente con una popolazione ad alta densità. Ma non ci sono solo erbivori selvatici. Dai primi mesi estivi fino all’inizio dell’autunno, gli animali domestici (pecore, capre, mucche e cavalli) vengono ancora portati al pascolo tra queste montagne, spesso ad alte densità e, nel caso di bovini ed equini, allo stato semibrado. In tutta l’area è documentata la presenza di cani da guardiania associati al bestiame, ma anche di cani vaganti e inselvatichiti.

Entra nel cuore dell’Appennino, percorrendo le valli segnate dagli uomini fino alle cime più alte, da cui lo sguardo spazia sulle grandi foreste e verso nuovi territori.

A partire dal Neolitico, il paesaggio dell’Appennino si è sviluppato di pari passo con le attività umane, in particolare la pastorizia, vera forza plasmatrice del territorio. Le tracce di tutto ciò sono ancora evidenti nei coltivi abbandonati e nei resti di vecchi stazzi, rinvenibili anche in aree remote, nonché nella rete di sentieri e strade che sono presenti quasi ovunque. Oggi, nel Parco, la densità abitativa è di circa 15 persone/km2, mentre la densità di strade asfaltate al suo interno è pari a circa 39 km/100 km2. L’allevamento del bestiame, le attività di taglio forestale e il turismo sono importanti risorse economiche, mentre l’agricoltura ormai è limitata principalmente alle zone di fondovalle, nei pressi dei centri abitati. Lo sfruttamento dei boschi è svolto con l’autorizzazione del Parco, tranne in alcune aree particolarmente delicate prese in affitto dall’Ente stesso per prevenire il deterioramento dell’habitat. L’attività venatoria (cinghiale, lepre e avifauna) è consentita esclusivamente nell’Area contigua del Parco, tra i mesi di ottobre e gennaio.

Per la complessità storica, culturale ed ecologica del territorio in questione, le relazioni che legano l’orso, l’Appennino e l’uomo possono essere davvero innumerevoli e sorprendenti. Più che in molte altre regioni del Pianeta, la vita degli orsi di queste queste montagne da migliaia di anni è intrecciata a ciò che li circonda, da un filo d’erba o una formica fino ad arrivare all’uomo e alle sue attività. La relazione con la nostra specie, in particolare, viaggia da sempre su due polarità, di attrazione o repulsione, variando costantemente nel tempo a seconda delle culture prevalenti.

The relationships may be innumerable, according to many experts, many more than we could ever imagine. Organisms compete with each other if they have too many things in common (e.g. food). Some kill to survive, the so-called predators; many organisms form intimate associations, genuine alliances or “symbioses” often benefiting both. Relationship after relationship, the lives of prey, predators, their associates and their environment intertwine in a unique and ever-changing dynamism eternally striving for balance. And that is how an ecosystem is born. You just need to pull one thread of this dense weave tighter to change the direction and intensity of the relationships, creating a sudden and unpredictable domino effect. If one of these threads breaks due to unnatural causes, the weave may unravel beyond hope of recovery. Every day, the lives of bears intertwine with those of other living (wolves, deer, squirrels, ants and plants) and non-living (rivers and soil) organisms, writing tales of nature that inspire wonder and a sense of belonging.

Ants are among the most cooperative organisms in the world, and not just among themselves. For example, they offer protection to bizarrely shaped insects belonging to the Membracidae family, which they “farm” in exchange for the molasses they defecate after feeding on plant sap. Similarly, by also hunting arthropods such as spiders, ants create a danger-free environment for many herbivorous insects (aphids, cicadas and beetles), which can then “graze” in peace. But in the land of bears, ants do not have an easy time of it. Bears are very fond of both adults and larvae and destroy their nests with their paws in order to eat them. Researchers in the USA have found that bushes of a plant in the Chrysothamnus genus (the same family as sunflowers) are much more luxuriant near damaged nests. How is that possible? Well, thanks to the bears, while the remaining ants are busy rebuilding their nests, many small predators such as spiders are gaining ground again and killing many species of herbivorous insects, allowing the plants to germinate and grow better.

According to studies conducted along salmon rivers and streams in Alaska, brown and black bears can sow over 200,000 seeds of different berries in a single square kilometre. What’s more, a single bear may consume over 100,000 fruits in just one hour. But is it only bears that benefit? Experts say that’s not the case. Bears, first, followed by birds and small rodents, all contribute to disseminating the seeds of the fruits, facilitating the occupation of new territories and the search for more favourable environmental conditions, reducing competition between seedlings and the risk of cross-fertilisation. Bears are very effective at this, as they occupy territories as large as hundreds of square kilometres, cover distances of tens of kilometres while they are digesting and spread at least seven droppings a day. Research in Sweden has shown that seeds in bear droppings, stripped of their tegument during digestion, germinate one month earlier than those contained in fruit that just fell onto the ground. In addition, since bears defecate where they rest, the soil disturbance associated with the creation of a bed could help create the best conditions for seed germination. As bears also climb mountains every day, research has shown that transporting seeds to higher altitudes can help many fruit species, such as cherries, to combat climate change by migrating (or rather being transported) to cooler areas.

From May to September, Alaska’s streams and rivers come decidedly to life. Thousands of salmon swim up the rivers from the ocean coast to breed and lay their eggs. Bears are not indifferent to this incredible spectacle. From June onwards, dozens of bears congregate along the banks of the rivers to take advantage of all this fat and protein. In order to become obese as quickly as possible, bears also eat a lot of blueberries and berries of the Oplopanax genus, also known as devil’s club fruit. Using camera traps, researchers have discovered that mice and voles scavenge bear droppings. It’s not surprising… a single bear dropping may contain over 70,000 devil’s club seeds. In practice, a single excrement can meet the calorie needs of at least 90 mice. Considering the large number of bears that frequent the edges of streams and rivers during the summer, researchers have found that more than 50% of the rodents present only survive thanks to the bear droppings

Stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen has been used to study the flow of organic matter between the ocean and rivers in the boreal forests of North America. Nearly 26% of the nitrogen contained in the plants living along the river banks was found to be of marine origin. But how does nitrogen make its way up rivers against the current? In summer, bears in particular eat about 40% of the available salmon that swim up the rivers to spawn, distributing the marine nitrogen up to more than 500 metres from the river banks by leaving the remains of carcasses, defecating and urinating. For example, research has shown that more than 80% of the nitrogen of marine origin measured in silver fir leaves is transported by the bears themselves. Well-nourished riparian trees grow faster and denser, making them more attractive to deer and elk. They stabilise banks more efficiently, filter sediment, thus making the waters clearer, and create better shelter for growing fry. By providing food and nutrients, the bear and salmon team drive a genuine community that includes all links in the food web: scavengers, decomposers, herbivores and predators. Scientists say that the loss of either species would have serious environmental consequences for all organisms living in the same environment, from an alga or a bacterium to dozens of species of mammals and birds.

In 1995, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in America after an absence of more than sixty years. A research opportunity that experts were sure to exploit. What did the arrival of the wolves entail? Firstly, the wolves reduced the number of their favourite prey, the wapiti deer, and also influenced their feeding habits which changed as they needed to escape their new predators. In turn, there was an explosion in the growth of many berry-producing shrubs as there was less feeding pressure from the deer, increasing the availability of the berries and their consumption by grizzly bears. Not only shrubs, but also the riparian vegetation along many rivers became more lush, providing an ideal environment for many bird species and beavers, which increased in numbers. By building their dams on the rivers, the beavers created new ecological niches that favoured otters, fish, reptiles and amphibians. What’s more, with the return of the wolf, the availability of deer and elk carcasses also increased throughout the year, providing new food resources for crows, magpies, eagles, bears and coyotes, especially in the winter season. This is what is known as a trophic cascade. An ecosystem has changed and been enriched by the return of one of its links that had previously been eliminated at the hand of man.

Bears are very good at snatching prey from wolves and lynx, a behaviour known as kleptoparasitism. But researchers have found two more victims of the bears’ acts of piracy. These are two small rodents, each weighing no more than a few hundred grams. Between April and May in Yellowstone National Park, bears spend a lot of time digging their muzzles into the still partially snow-covered grasslands. This environment is home to a small rodent with subterranean habits, Thomomys talpoides, which feeds on plants and roots. These animals hide their food in elaborate tunnels, the entrances to which are visible on the ground in the form of mounds of earth. Although they also occasionally feed on a few individuals, bears plunder the reserves accumulated by these rodents, rich in roots of yampah and Claytonia virginica. But it is in autumn that the bear meets its second victim. In years when there is an abundance of pine nuts (Pinus albicaulis), rather than obtaining these seeds directly, more than 90% of the time the bears steal them from the underground stocks of red squirrels. In practice, the bears depend on a squirrel to exploit an energy-rich resource, essential for spending the winter fasting and breeding successfully.

Bears mark their presence on tree trunks with scratches, bites and their own scent by rubbing the trunks intensely. These marking trees may be used by animals year after year, even over a very long period of time. But bears also bite into the tree bark to feed on the sap, eat ants in the wood and even dig out their own dens. By analysing 278 marks left by bears on the bark of silver fir trees, a study carried out in the northern Carpathian mountains in Poland showed that in more than 40% of cases, wood-eating insects had dug tunnels in the bark and in most cases it had also been drilled by woodpeckers. The most affected “wounds” were the oldest, dating from at least five years earlier. How to explain this phenomenon? As the “wounds” are exposed to the weather, micro-organisms and fungi, they decompose and become an ideal micro-environment for many species of beetles (some very rare). These lay their eggs in tiny holes in the bark and their larvae then feed on the wood, excavating tunnels. But these same larvae are also gathered by woodpeckers, which take advantage of the areas already barked by the bears. In addition, the study showed that “wounded” trees were also colonised by other animals (such as rodents and amphibians) which found a comfortable shelter and protection there.

Once they’ve found their “home”, bears spend their daytime hours on wooded, rugged, inaccessible mountain slopes, if possible far from roads. But with the first shadows of twilight, they also venture down to the valley floor in search of food among the pastures, meadows, uncultivated land and farmland. Bears are creatures of the night and at first light, they return to their daytime refuges. In autumn, when the need to put on weight becomes a priority, the females in particular take advantage of a few extra hours of daylight to ensure they’re in the best possible condition to become mothers. The movements of these animals basically reflect what they eat and are never random. Bears always balance costs and benefits before setting out. Any trip away from their daytime refuges must serve to fill their stomach well or find a companion.

When they come out of their dens in the spring, bears mainly frequent the valley floor, the edges of streams and forests and snow-free areas where they are most likely to find succulent plants, carcasses of animals that have died during the winter, or newborn red and roe deer and wild boar. Each in its own way, the bears also scour semi-natural human-derived environments such as farmland, uncultivated land and roadsides, always on the lookout for the first tufts of grass. In the first four weeks after leaving the den, the bears move around and eat little, as their metabolic functions are still slow after the long winter break, but they gradually return to normal. Between May and June, the movements of solitary adult males and females in search of amorous adventures reach their peak. On the other hand, compared to other bears, mothers stay longer at high altitudes and near their winter refuges to protect their cubs, which are still too slow to keep up. As summer progresses, between June and July, the green of the new vegetation creeps progressively higher up the mountain slopes, attracting bears to the higher-altitude grasslands in search of not just herbaceous plants, but also the ants that teem in their nests under the stones. Unlike in other seasons, to seek out the ants, most active during the hottest hours of the day, bears also frequent areas rich in shrubs and bushes assiduously during daylight hours.

The beginning of August brings with it not only an abundance of fruits, but also the peak of tourism, bringing visitors to the Park. Something also changes in the bears. They begin eating a high-calorie diet to gain weight before the long winter. At the same time, the animals lead an ever more reserved life, withdrawing to inaccessible high altitude areas both by day and by night, avoiding busy roads and crowded populated centres as much as possible. In this season, mountain glades and scree are a constant destination for bears in search of alpine buckthorn berries. But in autumn, the bears return to the woodland, uncultivated land and farmland on the valley floor in search of berries and other fruits and nuts, especially apples, pears and acorns. In years with a bumper crop of beechnuts, they limit their movements to the beech forests.

In the Apennines, each individual bear is different and the size of home range can differ up to three times between males and females. The home ranges of Marsican bears can vary between 30 and 300 km2 and they are in every way comparable to those of brown bears living in areas even more productive than the Apennines.

Bears always use the same central areas from one season to the next, but their home range may shrink, expand or lengthen depending on their reproductive and nutritional needs and the distribution of the most palatable food. The most significant changes have been observed at the transition between summer and autumn, when it may halve or even double, depending on the bears or the years. In autumn, bears feed mainly on nuts and the abundance of these may vary greatly from year to year. For example, when there is a bumper crop of beechnuts, bears limit their movements to the beech forests, staying for weeks on end in even very small areas. Their territories will therefore be smaller than in years when the beech forests produce few beechnuts.

Males always have larger territories than females. In particular, during the breeding season between late spring and early summer, adult males double their movements to reach and mate with as many females as possible, in accordance with a polygamous reproductive strategy. Males expand their territories to include up to six different adult females. While females with young tend to restrict their movements in the early summer months to reduce the risk of infanticide by adult males, in the other seasons they expand the areas where they live to meet the nutritional needs of the whole family.

Bears tolerate each other and can share the same home, but season and personality play a role. The most tolerant are mainly the females which tend to remain in the same territory as their mother, while males are driven to disperse in their early years. For example, in the Park, a bear may encounter 4 other individuals in every 100 km2. The fact that bears in the Apennines are very indulgent towards each other is evident in both summer and autumn, when gatherings of up to nine bears can be observed together within a few square kilometres. However, overlapping does not necessarily mean frequenting the same areas on the same day or at the same time. Bears are, in fact, very adept at dividing up the calendar of presences in a specific area. On the other hand, if they cannot avoid a sometimes close encounter, they know how to interact to prevent tension and conflict.

Given the high extent to which the home ranges of bears in the Park overlap, it seems reasonable to assume that these animals are beginning to feel a little “cramped”. What can happen to the bears in a situation like this? Younger bears are generally driven away to marginal areas or to seek out new territories further afield, while for those that remain, control mechanisms may come into play, for example, to limit births. Older dominant females may exercise their authority to prevent younger females from reproducing, or the cubs may fall victim to more cases of infanticide by adult males. What evidence is there for the bears in the Park? The low reproductive rates in the females and more recent phenomenon of young bears frequenting built-up areas indicate that such a phenomenon is taking place. In recent years, there have been more and more reports of male and female bears outside their habitual distribution area. A good indication that bears are being driven to move away from the areas where they are usually present.

Despite the observed tendency of bears to prefer home ranges with natural environments, roads and built-up areas can occupy up to half the territory of some bears. So for a bear, frequenting areas inhabited by man is actually not so strange. Some bears regularly cross villages, although they do so at night. This behaviour can be exacerbated when young bears and females with cubs choose to live near these areas to escape the males. When this happens, also considering the presence of factors of attraction in populated places, such as fruit trees, some bears may lose their fear of humans and become accustomed to living in less wild areas.

However, the bears’ habit of feeding near roads or villages, whether on natural foods (herbaceous plants and insects) or human-derived food resources, is a potential risk for the species and associated with both high levels of conflict with man’s activities (such as damage to livestock, gardens and orchards) and a greater risk of bears being killed (hit by cars or killed by poachers). What’s more, out of the 19 bears monitored, the home ranges of more than half include large areas with limited protection and with a heavier human presence than those within the Park. On the other hand, 100% of the territories of bears in dispersal or frequenting areas outside the Park may coincide with risk areas, with all the dangers this entails.

Italy’s wild heart is made up of more than 1300 square kilometres of steep mountains and deep valleys, furrowed by numerous watercourses and covered by imposing forests, home to an astonishing nature which has almost miraculously survived just a stone’s throw from great cities such as Rome and Naples. Despite its proximity to the sea, the climate here is more inclement than in typically Mediterranean zones. The summers are dry and the winters are cold and snowy. The peaks can be covered by a white blanket from mid-December until the end of March and sometimes beyond. The predominant environments are deciduous forests, followed by mountain grasslands, pastures and scrub. Along the bottom of the valleys, there are numerous villages, together with surviving areas of cultivated and uncultivated land. Below an altitude of 1300 metres, the woods are dominated by turkey and downy oaks (Quercus cerris and Q. pubescens), while at higher altitudes the beech (Fagus sylvatica) reigns supreme. The Park is also home to some of Europe’s oldest beech forests, where the trees grow, reproduce and die a  “natural death “, following natural cycles that favour the establishment and life of a great number of animal and plant species. But the woods are also rich in sycamores and maples (Acer spp.), wild fruit trees (such as Pyrus pyraster, Malus sylvestris, Prunus spp. and Sorbus spp.), together with domestic varieties of apple, pear, plum and cherry scattered throughout the cultivated and uncultivated land.

The product of millennia of human history with its ups and downs, this mosaic of environments has a very varied scrub community, including numerous fruit-bearing plants such as bramble, raspberry, viburnum and cornel, to name but a few. The mountain and sub-mountain belts are dotted with verdant mesophilous semi-natural grasslands (Festuco-Brometea), while above an altitude of 1800 metres, the extensive primary grasslands host a rich variety of herbaceous plant communities (Seslerion apenninae, Festuco-Trifolietum thalii). The deep, nitrate-rich soils near the sheepfolds and the preferential routes followed by flocks or watercourses are colonised by various herbaceous plants such as chervil, good king Henry and nettle (Chaerophyllum spp., Chenopodium spp., Rumex spp. and Urtica spp.).

The valleys, forests and rocky environments are populated by a great variety of vertebrates and invertebrates, including many species endemic or very rare elsewhere. The Park protects most of the species typical of mountain ecosystems and the Apennines in particular. Among the mammals, the community of wild ungulates is especially significant, with red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and the exclusive Apennine chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata), potential prey not only for the bear, but also the wolf, present here with a high density population (5 wolves/100 km2). But the herbivores are not all wild. From early summer until early autumn, domestic animals (sheep, goats, cows and horses) are still grazed in these mountains, often at high densities and, in the case of cattle and horses, in a semi-wild state. Throughout the area, there are guard dogs associated with the livestock, as well as stray and feral dogs.

Enter the heart of the Apennines, along the valleys shaped by people up to the highest peaks, from which the view ranges over vast forests and towards new territories.

Since the Neolithic, the landscape of the Apennines has developed hand in hand with man’s activities, in particular sheep farming, the real force shaping the territory. The traces of all this can still be seen in the abandoned cultivations and remains of old sheepfolds present in even the most remote areas, as well as in the network of paths and roads still existing almost everywhere. Today, the average population density (±SD) in the Park is  about 15 persons/km2, while the density of paved roads in the Park amounts to 39 km/100 km2. Animal husbandry, tree felling and tourism are important economic resources, while arable farming is now mainly confined to areas of the valley floor near the villages. Utilisation of the woods is carried out with the authorisation of the Park, with the exception of certain particularly delicate areas rented by the Park Authority itself to prevent deterioration of the habitat. Hunting (wild boar, hares and birds) is allowed exclusively in the buffer area around the Park between the months of October and January.

For the historical, cultural and ecological complexity of this area, the relationships linking bears, the Apennines and man can be truly countless and surprising. More than in many other regions of the planet, the life of bears in these mountains has been inextricably entwined with their surroundings for thousands of years, from a blade of grass or an ant to man and his activities. The relationship with our species in particular has always been polarised between two extreme opposites of attraction and repulsion, varying constantly down the centuries according to the culture prevailing at the time.