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Fauna
The geological wealth of Psiloritis, the intense geomorphology and the variety of its rocks are reflected not only to plants but also to an incredible variety of animals. The higher altitudes, the tens of caves and precipices, the small and the large lowlands and the numerous gorges lead to a boundless variety of biotopes, many times under unique microclimatic conditions. Hundreds of small and big birds find places for nesting, hunting, relaxation after exhaustion from migration or places to hide and mate. One of the few remaining populations of the Cretan wildcat (Felis silvestris creticus), hunts and lives here. It is characterized as the animal “ghost” by the researchers of Crete’s wild life. In the heart of Psiloritis, they have lived for thousands years and continue to evolve silently (and blindly!) hundreds of tiny animals, beetles, snails, centipedes, isopods...
All the above, in combination with the isolation of the island, consist this mountain area, which is one of the most important “hot spots” of high biodiversity and endemicity in Greece and have led the last five years in its integration with the NATURA network.
Psiloritis is the first from the mountainous areas that the visitor of the island will have the opportunity to see the great “kokkala” or lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus), which is one of the biggest and most spectacular raptors in Europe. The Cretan population of this bird is probably the last viable population across the Balkans, after a case record of extinction at the rest of Greece. Indeed, until the early years of the millennium, the lammergeyer was commonly seen not only in all the mountains of the landlocked Greece and Crete but also in certain bigger islands such as Rhodes. During the 1980’s, the Greek population could count at least 35 couples, 12 of which were in Crete and the rest were spread around the mountainous areas of the main land, Olympos mountain and Tymfi. Within the past 15 years however, the use of poisons in the countryside, in addition with several other reasons that are related to the “development” of the mountainous villages, have led the bird to extinction from the landlocked Greece, while it seems that the last shelter in Crete, had a decrease in its population (more than 70%).
Today, there a few birds of this species that can be located at the glacis of Psiloritis and the rest of the large Cretan mountainous areas. Without the special measures of protection that have been taken the past few years, the bird would have been extinct a long time ago from the island.
If, however, the lammergeyer impresses with its “elusiveness”, the carrion buzzards (Gyps fulvus) of Psiloritis leave the visitor of the mountains speechless with their enormous “massive” thrust. It is not rare to see fifty or a hundred enormous shadows covering the area! The carrion buzzards in contrast with the “asceticism” of the lammergeyers are birds that create large colonies and nest in abrupt rock roofs and “lofts” that are always against the winds that they use in order to ascend in higher altitudes and look for dead animal bodies. They are fed exclusively with dead animals that have been dead for several days, due to their weak neb, while the leftovers (bones and hard pieces of skin) are eaten by the lammergeyers. Most of the nests at Idi Mountain (Psiloritis) are located at the southern glacis in abrupt and high rocks with a view to Amari and Pano Riza villages, using the north smooth glacis of Mylopotamos for food hunting.
Apart from the big scavengers, another population of raptors completes the ornithological peregrination of Psiloritis. War eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) that hunt cushats at the glacis, lanerrets (Falco peregrinus), Bonelli’s eagles (Hieraaetus fasciatus), haggards (Buteo buteo) and common kestrels (Falco tinunculus), all can be seen by crossing the mountain.
The fauna of the rest of the invertebrates presents a remarkable interest. In the area we are likely to come across the three types of the Cretan amphibians: the green toad (Bufo viridis), the Cretan tree frog (Hyla arborea cretensis) and the Cretan water frog (Rana cretensis), all the types of the Cretan reptiles (snippets, lizards and the island’s four types of snakes).
A unique and sad absence from Idi Mountain is the Cretan goat (kri-kri) (Capra aegagrus cretica). The last of this unique animal, the symbol of independence and pride of the Cretans for centuries, has been eliminated from the mountain due to the prevalence of gun-runners during the 20’s and the 30’s of the previous century. Today, the only wild populations of this species survive only in abrupt areas of west Crete, at the mountain called “Lefka oroi” (White Mountains).
Also, many caves and precipices of the area host large colonies of strictly protected cheiropteras (bats), in the caves of Erfoi village of the lowland Mylopotamos (hosts several hundreds of the species of “The greatest horseshoe bat” (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), the cave of Kamilaris at Tylisos village (with at least four types in large populations), at “Chonos” of Sarchos at Krousonas village (five types), the cave of Kamares and many others.
Among the invertebrates, snails, isopods and several families of ground living beetles present endemic forms that spread exclusively on the mountainous area of Idi Mountain. For example, from the area of Mylopotamos are known at least 21 different types of snails, 17 of which are exclusively animals endemic to Crete. The “Gymnosaliagkas” (naked snail) (Deroceras minoicum) lives only in a fountain of the Nida plateau (!), while the blind beetle (Duvalius mixanigi) and the millipede (Serradium sbordoni) are known to live only in certain caves and precipices of the plateau.
Recent studies on the “hot” spots of biodiversity based on invertebrate fauna of south Greece, found that Mylopotamos and the wider mountainous area of Psiloritis is the second most important spot of this kind (with Taigetos first) across south Greece.
