Friday, May 13, 2011

On site: Gêres and a special cow


So meet the Barrosã ox, a very unique animal that is uniquely found in a northern area of Portugal: Gerês.
The Peneda-Gerês National Park is known for its breathtaking beauty, where hikers of all ages can enjoy a great mountainous landscape. However the landscape is far from being harmonious as it has a lot of pressures from human impact that challenge the survival of the flora and fauna. This ox in particular is highly endangered, and one of its threats is the also endangered Iberian Wolf. Thus a lot of programs have been devised in order to make these two species co-exist peaceful, because if the bovines are kept safe, then the wolves will hunt something else, and voilá, problem solved. That simple.
It is without a doubt gorgeous region, incredibly photogenic, so it's well worth a trip :)

July 2010
all photos by Laura Nunes

2 comments:

  1. I have just discovered your delightful blog and have really enjoyed my browse.
    Beautiful images.

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  2. Thank you so much! It is rather abandoned due to an overload of university work but hopefully it will relaunch in August!
    Take care!

    ReplyDelete