So of course we are far from the American continent, Asia or Africa, land of safaris, but Europe, France included, also has some species of wild animals in the “remarkable and general public” sense. » of the term. Those that, for example, we will go – or hope – to see when we are on vacation in certain corners of France.
Meeting with five species that we can more or less encounter, not necessarily far from home..
The seals of the Bay of Somme
Of the five species chosen, the seal family is perhaps the easiest to observe. Quite numerous, generally not very shy, fans of sandbanks where they like to lounge, they can theoretically be found all over the French coast. Even if it is true that it is especially on the Channel and the North Sea that they remain the most numerous, living in colonies between Normandy and the Belgian border.
No wonder then that they have also become a “tourist attraction” very popular with visitors from the Bay of Somme and the Bay of Authie. And if in terms of fauna, the region first became known thanks to the birds of the Marquenterre park, for several decades the seals which have taken up residence on the sandbanks of these bays have attracted their crowds. Today there are several hundred of them that you can see here and there on the coast during your walks.
Chamois, chamois and mountain ibexes
Here are species that are fairly easy to observe for those who go hiking in our mountains of the Alps or the Pyrenees. With good binoculars, and even sometimes without, you will surely come across them alone or with family walking on sometimes steep walls. Harmless, pretty to look at, those that we could sometimes mistake for goats seen from afar, there are several thousand of them occupying our massifs.
As for the question that everyone asks which is to know what the difference is between an izard and a chamois, the most basic answer is that the izard lives in the Pyrenees and the chamois in the Alps as far as of French territory. In detail, the first is larger with long and curved horns (short and straight for the chamois) and a dark brown coat in winter or red in summer (reddish brown with a dark stripe on the spine for the chamois).
And as for the ibex, quite close to the other two while being the most imposing, it also lives in the Alps and can be recognized for males by its large, crescent-shaped horns.
Raptors of all kinds
Eagles, vultures, buzzards, falcons, bearded vultures and a few others, you will surely come across them during your walks in the countryside and in the mountains. It must be said that France is rather well supplied in this area due to its size and the diversity of its natural environments. In all, more than thirty species have been recorded, which also include owls which also belong to the raptor family.
Even if we can observe them almost everywhere, certain places and ecosystems are more favorable than others, starting of course with parks and nature reserves which often offer quality habitats for raptors. To this we can add the wetlands with these marshes, ponds and watercourses which attract many birds, the forests, but also the coastal cliffs which, we do not necessarily know, are favored nesting sites for birds of prey. like the peregrine falcon.
The wolves of Gévaudan and elsewhere
It has been back en masse for several years now, visibly arousing as much passion as before. Without repeating the debate once again, the number of individuals present in France is currently estimated at more than a thousand; a rising figure with populations now scattered almost everywhere or almost throughout the territory
So of course when we talk about wolves we talk about mountains. The Alps, notably the Mercantour which was one of the first French territories where wolves were reintroduced, the Pyrenees from one coast to the other and then also the Massif Central with obviously the Gévaudan and its famous beast…
Between legend and reality, the fact is that this part of Lozère has for a long time now been associated with the wolf with this Beast of Gévaudan. Apparently a pack of wolves responsible for the deaths of several people in the region at the end of the 18th centurye century that the popular imagination quickly transformed into a myth to the point that even today “the animal” is still present in various tourist sites which maintain its legend with the help of museums, statues and other educational trails. Not to mention the Parc des Loups du Gévaudan in Sainte-Lucie, near Marvejols.
Which does not prevent us from observing the wolf in its wild environment by going “searching” for it (but not just any way), or more simply accompanied by a guide.
The Pyrenees bear
In a way, it is the case of the bear like the wolf with increasing populations and endless controversies between “pro” and “anti” in these Pyrenean regions which are the valleys of Ossau and Aspe which now hosts the most specimens, even if it is on the Spanish side that the bear is most present. All this after a successful reintroduction in the (19)90s near Luchon, in Haute-Garonne.
In the meantime, the bear is also a tourist attraction here and it is possible to follow in their footsteps on outings supervised (obviously preferable) by professionals. Otherwise, more simply, you can also go to the heights of the village of Borce, to the south of the Aspe Valley, to discover Parc’Ours which is an animal refuge which shelters some of them which you can approach from closer.