Parcopedia

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.