Engadine National Park

The national park in the Engadine has provided a refuge for wild animals from hunting since 1914.

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — January 25, 2016

Not far from the Ofen Pass lies the oldest national park in Switzerland – a landscape untouched by human intervention for 100 years.

Its area of 170 square kilometers corresponds to the size of the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Deer roam freely there in broad daylight and are the largest wild herbivores in Switzerland.

The national park is home to 35 different mammal species, 73 bird species, 5 reptile and 3 amphibian species, 227 butterflies (of which 108 are day butterflies), 34 dragonfly and 205 beetle species, as well as 99 land snails and large mussels.

The shift from livestock grazing to wildlife pasture led to a completely new biodiversity , in some cases doubling it. The crucial factor for any natural development is time. In winter, the regulatory mechanisms of nature left to its own devices become most apparent.

Bearded vultures and ibex were also once relentlessly hunted to extinction by hobby hunters and later reintroduced by humans.

The Alpine ibex is a species of goat that feels particularly at home in the mountains. Ibex inhabit the highlands between the tree line and the snow line. Only in winter do they descend to lower elevations. The ibex is the heraldic animal of the canton of Graubünden and does not cope well with unstable terrain. Weighing in at over 100 kilograms, ibex tend to avoid snow.

The Engadine owes its ibex to none other than the hunting-obsessed Italian King Vittorio Emanuele II. Italian poachers brought ibex kids from the king's hunting grounds (Gran Paradiso National Park) in the Aosta Valley to Switzerland. At that time, poachers were fair game for the game wardens, and smuggling was punishable by death. The ibex kids were then worth about the equivalent of a mid-range car today (800 Swiss francs each). In a daring smuggling operation in June 1906, two female and one male kid were the first to be brought from Italy to Switzerland. Poachers had stolen them from the royal hunting grounds – after tricking the mothers – but they had taken care to ensure that the kids had already received their first milk (colostrum), which made them more resilient. They then carried them from Gran Paradiso to the Valais. Between 1906 and 1933, 59 smuggled ibex kids were brought to the Peter and Paul Wildlife Park in St. Gallen. In 1920, some ibex from the wildlife park were released into the Swiss National Park. Today, there are around 15,000 ibex living in Switzerland again, all of Italian origin.

Bearded vulture in the Engadine National Park

Bearded vultures, with a wingspan of almost 3 meters, are the largest birds in the Alps. They have a particular fondness for bones and bone marrow. As specialized scavengers, they thrive in the harsh winter conditions. Weighing up to 7 kg, the bearded vulture disappeared from the Engadine region around 1890 and was long, and wrongly, vilified as a predator of sheep kids. After the ibex, the bearded vulture represents the second major success story of reintroduction efforts in the Engadine. Between 1991 and 2007, approximately 26 young bearded vultures were released at the Ofen Pass. The first pair of bearded vultures bred there in 2007. Bearded vultures require a large area, exceeding 500 km². The reintroduction is a cross-border project that is only possible through international cooperation.

Golden eagles in the Engadine National Park

The golden eagle narrowly escaped extinction. Their numbers have increased significantly due to improved environmental conditions and, above all, the hunting ban in the Swiss National Park. The "king of the skies" benefits from ideal living conditions: the expansive open and semi-open landscapes of the alpine and subalpine zones offer ample opportunities for nest building in difficult-to-access terrain. Adult eagles live in pairs and defend territories ranging from 30 to 90 km². The Alps are entirely covered with golden eagle territories. In summer, the golden eagle feeds primarily on marmots . In winter, carrion from ungulates makes up a large part of its diet.

The golden eagle has no natural predators today. Nevertheless, eagle populations are not growing unchecked. The more eagles there are in the skies, the greater the competition among them becomes. If a pair of eagles has to constantly leave its nest to defend its territory, it neglects its young. In fact, research shows that the breeding success of golden eagles decreases as the number of territories increases. This example also clearly demonstrates that nature regulates itself when left to its own devices.

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