Europe
Kosovo is a territory of basins ringed by high mountains, with two national parks that take up a notable share of its surface. The Bjeshkët e Nemuna, a continuation of the Albanian Alps, form glacial cirques, limestone walls and beech and pine forests where brown bears, wolves and Balkan chamois move, along with the Balkan lynx, detected very sporadically on camera traps. The Sharr range, to the south, keeps relict stands of Bosnian pine, high-altitude pastures grazed for centuries and a flora rich in Balkan endemics. The Rugova canyons and the stepped Mirusha waterfalls, cut into travertine, are the country's most singular river landscapes. The headwaters hold native trout, and the mountain pastures remain tied to transhumance with the Sharr shepherd dog.
National animal: No official national animal
In the forests near Pristina a sanctuary has operated since 2013 to take in the so-called restaurant bears: animals that spent years shut in tiny cages in full view of the customers of bars and hotels as a commercial draw. When the practice was banned, the bears, unable to survive in the wild, were moved to wooded enclosures where many stepped on soil and grass for the first time in their lives.
Historic mining at Trepça and river pollution are the main environmental liability. Camera-trap monitoring of the Balkan lynx is coordinated with North Macedonia and Albania within the same regional programme.
Bjeshkët e Nemuna in summer for chamois and cliff birds. Sharr in spring for the flowering of the pastures and mountain birds. The Rugova canyon year-round for raptors.
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Same region: The Balkans
Same region: The Balkans
Same region: The Balkans
Same region: The Balkans
313 species found
Based on what we already know about Kosovo.