Common name: Eurasian spoonbill

Scientific name: Platalea leucorodia

Class: Aves

Order: Ciconiiformes

Family: Threskiornithidae

Nutrition:  Fishes, amphibians, reptiles and plant debris.

Features: It is a water bird with white plumage and the typical long, flat, slender beak at the tip that gives the animal its name. It nests in densely populated colonies, also with other species. It uses its beak as an aquatic probe to scour the muddy bottom and catch prey. 

Curiosity: The first known nesting of two pairs in Italy took place in 1989 in the Comacchio Valleys. 

Common name: Short-eared owl

Scientific name: Asio flammeus

Class: Aves

Order: Strigiformes

Family: Strigidae

Nutrition:  Small mammals and in particular voles; occasionally small birds, frogs, insects.

Features: It is similar to the common owl and can be recognised by its yellowish-brown, very light plumage and very short ear tufts. Its flight is slow and undulating. Unlike other birds of prey in its family, it starts hunting just before evening or dusk, and stops at nightfall.

Curiosity: Its diet is selective towards lemmings and voles. These preferences influence its migratory movements. 

Common name: Red fox

Scientific name Vulpes vulpes

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Canidae

Nutrition:   Reptiles, amphibians, birds, other mammals. Its diet may also includes insects and berries.

Features: Its fur is reddish in colour. It normally lives in pairs, with cubs, although solitary specimens or in groups of 4 or 6 adults can sometimes be observed. It prefers to hunt at dusk. To communicate with each other they also use scent traces released by special glands on its body.

Curiosity: The fox can jump up to 3 meters in length but cannot climb trees.

Common name: Crested porcupine

Scientific name: Hystrix cristata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Rodentia

Family: Hystricidae

Alimentazione:  Tubers, fruit, roots, bulbs, barks.

Caratteristiche: The porcupine adapts to different types of environment including forests, rocky areas, mountains and deserts. It is a nocturnal animal that during the day takes refuge in caves, rocky ravines or burrows that it digs with its strong claws. These burrows are often very elaborate and are also used for many years. 

Curiosity: The body is covered with spines, modified hairs that are used for defence. Also present on the tail, they are thin and hollow at the end and, in case of danger, when the porcupine shakes its tail, they produce a rattle sound.

Common name: Wild boar

Scientific name: Sus scrofa

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Suidae

Nutrition:  Omnivorous: acorns, fruits, berries, tubers, roots, mushrooms, insects, eggs, meat, fish.

Features: Similar to a domestic pig, it is covered with thick bristles and has obvious tusks. During the day, it rests lying in holes in the ground that it digs with its snout. During winter, these holes are often stuffed with branches and dry leaves. It takes long baths in puddles to thermoregulate itself and covers itself in mud to protect itself from insect bites and sunburn. It is a social animal that lives in groups and demarcates its territory through secretions. 

Curiosity: The boar, in various forms, is present in Celtic literature as a symbol of great power.