FLORA & FAUNA


The whole Durmitor is a hymn to life, the man finding a source of life energy in it. Right here, the man's heart feels that the best evangel is the news: “YES, YOU ARE ALIVE...” and that you have the honor of being a partaker in all the beauties. Come on, the stage is for a certain time yours, give thanks for such a great gift, the gift called LIFE.



Durmitor is a giant, reaching for the skies, a veritable pillar of the skies, the table on which the skies rest, full of primeval beauty, tenderness, love and drama. The roar of winds, the buzz of insects, the singing of birds, the cry of the eagle, the call of the mountain-goat, the whinnying of the horses, the bellowing of oxen, the ringing of bells...that's all in harmony with the silence of the mountain.



Durmitor is a regional whole, shadowed by five canyons, the manifoldness of the plant and animal life being indebted to the touch of two great geographical regions: the Mediterranean region and the euro Siberian region. It is estimated that more than 1500 plant species grow on Durmitor. Some of them are here for a long time, from geological times long past : meaning that on the slopes of this mountain some species of plant life may be found that are really characteristic for the very far away Arctic regions. In the canyons of Tara and Piva some tertian species of flora are preserved from the last glacial period, the peat-bogs in the Durmitor lakes are enclaves very characteristic for Siberian taigas.

In higher regions, needle forests are predominating: junipers, firs and pines; the perennial forest has: birches, beech-trees, aspens and maples. In lower regions you can find ash-trees, oaks, elms, lime-trees, common maples, dogwood etc. Very rare species are : MUNIKA (Pinus heldreichii Christ.), YEW-TREE, KALIKA (Calycanthus), WRY PINE, AND MOUNTAIN JUNIPER.





A very interesting and rare sight is the so-called “ forest inversion”, because on many locations above the line of needle-forests a perennial wood, made of beech-trees appears. The exact number of plant species on the slopes of Durmitor is not yet firmly established, but many species are protected being rare, and important for scientific research. Many endemic species are present:DURMITORSKA DIVIZMA (Verbascum durmitoreum), NIKOLA'S VIOLETS, MONTENEGRO BELLS, MALIJEV JEREMICAK (Daphne malyana), BRAUN-BRAKE VALERIAN, THE TARA BELL, GOSPINA PAPUCICA, SIPARSKA HAJDUCICA, MLADJA, PUZAVO ZVONCE, DINARSKA SIRISTARA... On Durmitor you may find some 40 species of edible mushrooms, Durmitor being on of the very special regions in Europe.





In this region the animal life is also very rich, some three hundred species being under protection. The first place belongs to invertebrate, with a great number of relict and endemic species, especially by insects. In summertime, in flowering meadows, like nowhere you may observe a variety of insects and butterflies (some years hundred species of day butterflies), among them APOLON, who is, because of its beauty always a targets of collectionaires, being protected therefore. The animal world of mammals is varied: bear, mountain goat, fawn, wolf, hare, wild boar, marten, fox, dormouse etc. while the otter which lives in the Tara river is a rarity in Europe. On the slopes of Durmitor some 130 species of birds are present, rarities being: THE BIG GROUSE, THE BROWN MOUNTAIN EAGLE, THE STONE PARTRIDGE, HAWK, CROSSBEAK, WHITE HEAD EAGLE ...

In the waters of this region the trout is living, potocarka (Rorippa), lipljen (Thumallys thumallys), mladica, jezerska zlatovcica (Salvelinus fontinalis).... in the puddles and the lakes of Durmitor you may see rarities, like PLANINSKI MRMOLJAK (Rryturus alpestris) or TRITON, a reptile which is a post-glacial relict, protected by law.

The complexity of the plant and animal life is like a magnet attracting the curious, maybe just to take a peek, those more knowledgeable to add to their existing knowledge, and maybe, because this world is so full of unknown to find something new.

krstokljun - Crossbill Loxia

top

.