Wildlife

Romania, along the bears, wolves and lynxes has as well a very good number of other species. There are good populations of roe deer and the larger red deer, and in the higher areas, the Carpathian chamois is one of the more visible mammals, sharing its rocky habitat with alpine marmots.

Wild boars are common in both upland and lowland areas, where their extensive grubbing for roots leaves signs of their passage. They are a major quarry species for Romania’s hunters.

Wildcats are fairly common and most likely to be seen at dusk and dawn. Pine martens are frequent in extensive forest areas, while their close cousins, the beech martens, often find their homes in houses and barns in lower country districts where they store their prey items. On the Olt River north of Brasov, beavers have been introduced from southern Germany.

Bear population

Around 40 to 60 percent of Europe’s brown bears live in the woodlands of Romania. This impressive statistic is the result of the remarkably intact woodland ecosystem and traditional land-management practices. In the 1960’s the bear population was somewhere around 1,500 individuals, but during the Ceausescu regime, this has grown to more than 8,000.

This occurred partly to the hunting preferences of Nicolae Ceausescu. The increasing number of bears led also to attacks on livestock. Various estimates put the population today at between 4,000 and 6,000 animals.

To sustain his “hobby”, he ordered a nationwide program of feeding stations and from 1975, bear hunting became illegal for anyone but Ceausescu and other top party officials or invited guests.

Reaching up to 2 meters in height if standing on his back legs, the brown bear is omnivorous, with a rather poor digestive system. If you are in the search of a bear, one sign of being in one’s territory is finding their characteristic droppings, which contain large amounts of undigested food. Territorial scratch marks on tress can also be found: three to five parallel gouges, which, if fresh, may be accompanied by rich brown hairs snagged on the bark.

Generally the bears are not a danger to the public; most incidents involving bears attacking humans are when shepherds are defending their flocks. Usually they will stay out of human sights, and will retreat in the face of noise. Though, compared to the other carnivores, the bear is most likely to be seen in the quieter forests of the Carpathians.

Several “bear hides” have been set up in Zarnesti, near Brasov, and an evening visit to these provides the best opportunity to see wild bears.

In Racadau, a suburb of Brasov, bears have been raiding rubbish bins since the 1980s. They are becoming more and more fearless of people, especially since the nightly event has become a bit of a spectacle and some bears are being fed by hand.

The Wolves

The wolf population is estimated to 3,000 individuals, around 35 % percent of Europe’s population, inhabiting the Carpathians and other less developed areas of the country. While seeing a bear in Romania is a possibility, the huge territories of the wolves, the mainly nocturnal habits and the avoidance of man, makes even the experienced naturalists consider themselves fortunate to come across them.

In order to find their tracks one must be able to differentiate them from those of large dogs. They do tend to take very direct routes, and often follow one another each placing their feet in exactly the same position as the animal in front. It’s only when the pack meets an obstacle that one sees that there are a number of individuals traveling together.

Wolves usually hunt in packs of two to seven animals, and feed on small mammals, insects and plants. They have a higher tendency than the bear to take domesticated animals. They are a very real and current threat to the livelihoods of the shepherds of Romania’s hill country.

Due to the wolf’s attacks, sheep are gathered in well-built folds for the night and the shepherd sleeps close by in a shelter, guarded by dogs. Hunting is controlled and the wolf population is considered to be stable, having recovered from state-sponsored elimination campaigns, using poison in addition to shooting and snaring, in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Lynx

The third big predator that seems to thrive in the Romanian countryside is the lynx, a big cat. The lynx is an even more rare sight than the wolves, despite the fact that the forests of Romania support about 35 percent of the total European population. The country’s count of about 2,000 animals seems all the more remarkable when it is compared with census data from neighboring countries: the Ukraine estimates that it has about 250 lynx, Serbia and Montenegro 80, while there are thought to be only a few individuals in Hungary and Bulgaria.

The vast Carpathian forests provide this shy member of the cat family with the range (a male has a territory of about 250 sq. km) and the habitat it requires. Its prey ranges from rodents to roe deer, which it stalks or ambushes at dusk or during the night. Outsize paws and a short tail with an obvious black tip are two of the features that stand out to those lucky enough to catch sight of one.

Birds of Romania

A spectacular array of birds can also be found in Romania’s forests.

The capercaillie needs undisturbed areas of land of large conifers, sometimes mixed with broad-leaved trees, with glades holding berried plants such as bilberries. “It’s in these glades that as many as 20 males gather at first light on spring mornings for their elaborate display and courtship rituals, involving a strutting march, feather fanning and an extraordinary series of vocalizations likened to sticks being tapped together, followed by a quiet drum roll, the sound of a cork popping out of a champagne bottle and finally a saw-whet.”

The hazel grouse is also to be found in Romania. As the capercaillie, it too requires relatively intact forest with enough plant diversity to provide for its various dietary needs throughout the year within a relatively small area. Due to these exacting demands, the hazel grouse population is suffering a widespread decline across Europe. A very shy bird, it has the ability to create underground burrows in deep snow to help it survive the hard winters of its mountainous habitat.

To the fairy-tale atmosphere also contribute the owls. Along the tawny, long-eared, pygmy and Tengmalm’s owls, the much larger and fearsome Ural owl is present.

Among the raptors, the golden and lesser spotted eagles are the two most likely to be seen in the Carpathians. Some experts consider that all Romania’s eagles except the white-tailed eagles of the Danube Delta are in decline.

In spring one can hear the distinctive sound of the black woodpecker as it marks its large territory with 20 or so hammer-like blows on dead timber in two second bursts. The three-toed woodpecker is unmistakable, the only member of this family in Europe with a yellow crown to its head. It prefers steep and inaccessible slopes with plenty of aging spruce trees. The white-backed woodpecker also depends on ancient woodland with plenty of rotting timber, and is an excellent indicator of the ecological health of these forests.

The wallcreeper is also an attractive sight in gorges and on mountain crags, and along with the alpine accentors inhabit the highest areas.

In the hay meadows of the Carpathians and other less-developed quarters of the country, corncrakes are still doing well – in contrast with the rest of Europe where it has suffered as a result of mechanized, early season grass cutting.