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Alpine Cozie Parks Calendar 2025: Aliens

Oct. 17, 2024
2025 Calendar Cover

2025 Calendar Cover

The new calendar of the Alpi Cozie Parks, as usual illustrated with watercolors by Elio Giuliano and Valentina Mangini with texts by Luca Giunti, is dedicated to the silent invasion of plants and animals from distant countries.

"Population expansions, decays leading to extinction, migrations, and new arrivals are part of natural cycles that have been occurring for at least 3 billion years," writes Luca Giunti in the introduction. Plant and animal species have always been able to move to new areas, as long as they found ecologically "welcoming" environments. Before Homo sapiens and especially Homo oeconomicus, it took decades or centuries to move a few kilometers. Thus, local habitats and species have always been able to gradually prepare, selecting countermeasures that allow them to live with invaders.
Things change and times are greatly accelerated when human intervention occurs, intentionally or accidentally introducing thousands of alien animal and plant species.

Many species at the base of our diet come from other continents and were anciently introduced or favored by humans, just think of cereals, chestnuts, grapes, or solanaceae from the Americas... Others, like the varroa mite that harms bees, potato late blight, chestnut ink disease, Asian longhorn beetle, and the Asian stink bug, have spread more recently and have compromised crops and livestock.

Recently, globalization and increased human and goods movements have led to an exponential growth in the rate of introduction of new species.
Today everything is accelerated. We are able to exterminate entire populations and habitats in a few years and, just as quickly, we promote movement and create conditions for the arrival of new species!

And so, starting from the 17th century, the robinia introduced for ornamental purposes by the botanist Jean Robin of the King of France, the American red oak, ailanthus, and buddleia originating from China, and in the 20th century, the North American gray squirrel, bullfrog, Louisiana crayfish, African giant snail, red-eared slider turtle, catfish, and many others have been introduced and have developed invasive behavior, displacing native species and significantly influencing the decrease of biodiversity.

A new calendar for alien, alien, invasive species... that acquire their charm thanks to the naturalistic illustrations and writings of three park ranger artists!