Parcopedia

The chamois frequents high-altitude meadows, but can also be observed on rocky walls and within woods, ranging from the valley floor up to about 3500 meters in altitude.

The Apollo butterfly is a large diurnal butterfly with a wingspan that can exceed 5 cm. The wings are mainly white with black spots in the front area, while the hind wings have two or more red spots bordered in black with a white pupil.

It can reach 2.90 m wingspan and weigh 7 kg. These characteristics make it the largest bird in the Alpine region. Moreover, it is the only species among vultures capable of feeding on bones thanks to some morphological and behavioral adaptations. Its body structure places it in an intermediate position between a raptor and a vulture, after all, its name derives from the Greek terms gyps (vulture) and aetos (eagle).

The Conca Cialancia grasshopper, discovered in 1986, is a rare endemic species of the Cottian Alps. It lives only at high altitudes, above 2000 meters, in meadows on sunny slopes. It has bright colors: gray-blue and red in males, camouflaged in females. The stridulating song of the males attracts the females. A truly special insect!

In the Park, in the coniferous forests, there are large nests of red wood ants of the Formica rufa group, useful for biological control. There are 4 similar species with complex social lives. The workers perform various tasks, the queens lay eggs, and the males mate with the queens during the nuptial flight. The nests can be large and accommodate up to 1 million ants.

The marmot is a diurnal rodent that lives in alpine meadows. It feeds on plants and insects, digs complex burrows, and hibernates from October to April. The young are born after 30-35 days of gestation and remain in the burrow for 40 days. The main predators are the golden eagle and terrestrial carnivores.

For years a population of rock sparrow has been nesting in the mowed and grazed meadows of the upper Susa Valley, in two Sites of the Natura 2000 network managed by the Parks of the Cottian Alps. It has colonized an area of ​​about 13 square kilometers on the south-southwest slope in the municipalities of Sestriere and Cesana Torinese, between 1350 and 2000 meters above sea level. The territory is characterized by xeric pastures and mountain meadows that in recent decades have seen a drastic decrease in traditional agro-pastoral practices, with the consequent risk of invasion by shrubs and trees and loss of the high degree of plant and animal biodiversity linked to mowed and grazed meadows.

The ibex is a large wild goat. Very confident with humans, it inhabits the entire Alpine arc.

The rock partridge (Lagopus muta) is an alpine bird the size of a pigeon that lives at high altitudes, above trees and shrubs. Up there, at the border between high-altitude meadows and rocky areas, generally between 1800 and 2700 meters, going up beyond 3000 meters in summer and autumn.

In the territories where today the Parks of the Cottian Alps are located, and in general throughout the entire Alpine arc, the wolf became extinct between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century due to human hunting activity. Starting from the 1970s, from a small nucleus of wolves of the subspecies Canis lupus italicus present in the Apennines of Central Italy (between 100 and 200 individuals), a process of numerical growth and spontaneous recolonization began, leading the species to spread throughout the entire peninsula.