Trees and forests
Forests cover about 30% of the territory's surface (3,000 km²), but they are mostly concentrated in the mountainous areas. Typical of the mixed forests of the Balkans, they are composed of deciduous trees, conifers, bushes and shrubs. Among the deciduous trees, we find mainly the Balkan beech(Fagus taurica), various oaks such as the sessile oak(Quercus petraea) and the Hungarian oak(Quercus frainetto), the white birch(Betula papyrifera) and the smooth elm(Ulmus laevis). In the mountains, above 800 m altitude, pines dominate: the white fir(Abies alba) which can reach 50 m in height, the Bosnian pine(Pinus heldreichii), the spruce(Picea abies), the Scots pine(Pinus sylvestris) and the Macedonian pine(Pinus peuce) which grows up to 2,200 m in altitude. Finally, among the shrubs, we find the willow(Salix caprea), the mountain pine(Pinus mugo) and the hazelnut(Corylus avellana). Due to extensive illegal deforestation, Kosovo has lost between 5 and 10% of its forest area since the end of the 1998-1999 war. However, if this decline is about to be stopped according to the authorities, more than half of the trees are now less than twenty years old.
Mountains and national parks
The two large massifs that enclose Kosovo to the east and west are home to the two national parks created in 2012.
The Albanian Alps National Park (Parku Kombëtar Bjeshkët e Nemuna/Nacionalnipark Prokletije) occupies the southwestern part of the massif of the same name, bordering Montenegro and Albania. It covers an area of 630 km² and reaches an altitude of 2 656 m. It includes the beautiful Rugova valley and the wildest areas of Kosovo, some of them impenetrable, about 1,000 plant species and 200 species of vertebrates out of the 250 that the country has (bears, wolves, raptors, wild cats, chamois ...).
The Šar Mountains National Park (Parku Kombëtar Malet e Sharrit/Nacionalni park Šar Planine) covers 533 km² in the southern part of the Šar Mountains. It borders North Macedonia and reaches an altitude of 2,651 meters. Thanks to its varied morphology and the presence of small glacial lakes, the biodiversity is even richer with about 1,500 plant species, including about forty arctic-alpine plants that have survived for 24,000 years at the end of the ice age: lichens, mushrooms and a beautiful white flower, the eight-petaled mountain avens (Dryas octopetala) which happens to be the symbol of Iceland. The park is also home to almost all the vertebrate species of Kosovo. The fauna of these two protected areas benefits from a continuity with two other neighboring parks: the Valbona Valley National Park (80 km²), in Albania and the huge Šar Mountains National Park (2,400 km²), in Northern Macedonia. However, in this part of the Balkans, the concept of "national park" remains quite theoretical, due to the lack of adequate budget and a lack of political will to ensure the preservation of the environment. Thus, within the national parks of Kosovo and Albania, poaching and illegal deforestation remain common practices. However, in the northern part of Kosovo, the third major massif, the Kopaonik Mountains, has been more spared from deforestation. It also benefits from its proximity to the Kopaonik National Park (121 km²) in Serbia, where the environment is much better protected. Forming the most forested part of Kosovo (810 km², or 27% of the country's forests), the Kopaonik Mountains are home to approximately 1,600 plant species, including rare flowers such as Kopaonik's houseleek (Sempervivum kopaonikensis), pančić's cardamine (Cardamine pancicii), Balkan sorrel (Rumex balcanicus), Bulgarian yarrow (Achillea bulgarica) or Yugoslav bell (Edraianthus jugoslavicus). Mammals are not very present (wild boars, wild cats ...), but we note the presence of 170 species of birds and a butterfly typical of the region, the Balkan corallin (Colias caucasica balcanica
). Kosovo also has eleven so-called "strict" nature reserves created by the Yugoslav authorities between the 1950s and 1980s. Eight of them are located within the two national parks. The other three are those of Kamilja (228 ha, in the Kopaonik Mountains), of the Nerodimka diffluence (13 ha, near Ferizaj/Uroševac) and of Gazimestan (12 ha, near Pristina). The latter is home to the famous Kosovo peony.Kosovo peony and serpentine flora
Subject of songs, poems and novels, the emblematic Kosovo peony(Pæonia decora Anders) blooms from May with bright red petals. Called kosovskih božura in Serbian and tulipa kosovarica in Albanian, it is one of the great symbols of the Serbian people. According to the legend, this peony was originally white, but after the battle of Kosovo Polje, in 1389, red flowers began to grow in Gazimestan, on the site of the confrontation which was soaked with the blood of Serbian soldiers who fell to the Ottomans. Still according to tradition, they spread throughout Serbia, but it is in Kosovo that their red color is the most vivid. In fact, this peony is found in very specific places: the serpentine outcrops. In Kosovo, these are found in Gazimestan (near Pristina) and the Kosovo Plain (in the northeast), in Mount Kopaonik (in the north), in the center of the country, as well as in the Kaçanik/Kačanik (in the southeast) and Gjakova/Đakovica (in the southwest) regions. Due to their geological composition, these rocky outcrops release toxic heavy metals and are home to plant species adapted to this hostile environment, including reduced growth. In addition to the famous blood peony, Kosovo's serpentine flora includes some of the rarest species in the Balkans, such as the mauve-colored Illyrian gladiolus(Gladiolus illyricus), the white or red Serbian tulip(Tulipa serbica), the endangered Albanian lily(Lilium albanicum) with yellow petals and the Hungarian colchicum (Colchicum hungaricum), which blooms in the dead of winter.
Lynx, wolves and bears
They are the three most known animals of Kosovo. And also the most threatened among the 50 species of mammals in the country. A subspecies of the European lynx, the Balkan lynx(Lynx lynx balcanicus) has become so rare that it is estimated that only 50 of these felines remain (compared to 90 in the year 2000), mainly in Northern Macedonia and Albania, with two specimens observed in Kosovo in 2017 in the Šar Mountains. The brown bear(Ursus arctos) and the gray wolf(Canis lupus) are also endangered, but they would still count 80 individuals each in Kosovo, in the Šar Mountains and the Albanian Alps. These species have been the victims of intense poaching since 1999, either killed by hunters or, in the case of some bears, captured as an attraction. Since 2012, they have been protected and, near Pristina, a small reserve has been created to accommodate about twenty plantigrades. The safeguarding of these predators is nonetheless fragile, since it is now their main prey that are on the verge of extinction in Kosovo, namely the Balkan chamois and the roe deer. Among other mammals, the situation is less worrying for foxes, wild boars, polecats and wild cats. Since 2014, there has also been the arrival of the golden jackal (Canis aureus), which, starting in Greece, has spread across most of Europe, including France in recent years.
Birds, fish and rivers
Kosovo is theoretically home to 180 species of birds, but all of them are declining dramatically in numbers. Some have probably already disappeared from the country, such as the sparrowhawk(Accipiter brevipes) and the imperial eagle(Aquila heliaca). Among the remaining large birds, there are still 10 pairs of capercaillie(Tetrao urogallus), 20 pairs of eagle owl(Bubo bubo) and 25 pairs of kestrel(Falco naumanni). The golden eagle(Aquila chrysaetos), dear to the Albanians, is maintained with 3 pairs. Migratory birds are rare, but we note that about 30 pairs of white storks(Ciconia ciconia) return to nest each spring in the valleys of the Stinica (Mitrovica region), the Mirusha/Binačka Morava (southeast) and the White Drin (southwest). The fauna of the rivers is still very poorly known, with 27 species of fish listed, including a third of the family Cyprinidae (carp). Unfortunately, Kosovo is above all the main focus of propagation in the Balkans of the sun perch(Lepomis gibbosus), an invasive species imported from America.
Adders, butterflies and scorpions
Among the 35 species of reptiles recorded in Kosovo, it is worth noting the presence of two turtles, one aquatic, the cistude(Emys orbicularis), the other terrestrial, Hermann's turtle(Testudo hermanni), but above all many snakes, which are proliferating due to the decrease in the number of predatory birds. If the Orsini's viper(Vipera ursinii) is venomous, it is not very dangerous for humans. The leopard snake(Zamenis situla) is not venomous, but it can bite. Even if accidents are rare, one should be especially wary of the horned viper(Vipera ammodytes) and the peliad viper (Vipera berus), each of which has a venom that is dangerous to humans. As for the huge family of insects, it has not yet been the subject of much research in Kosovo. Species are thus gradually identified. This was the case in 2021, when a scientist discovered in the Albanian Alps, at an altitude of 2,000 m, a new representative of the Limnephilidae (a kind of aquatic fly) and named it... Potamophylax coronavirus! We were then in full pandemic of Covid-19. It is in any case to this day the only species really endemic to the country (that is to say that one finds only in Kosovo), fauna and flora combined. As for butterflies, 171 are currently counted, half of which can be observed on the only site of the Mirusha waterfalls (Prizren region). And among the thousands of beetles, the rarest and most elegant is theAmpedus quadrisignatus, so named because of the four black dots drawn on its beautiful yellow carapace. Finally, among the arachnids, in addition to 159 species of spiders, there are also three kinds of scorpions:Euscorpius mingrelicus,Euscorpius carpathicus andAlpiscorpius beroni. Measuring 3 to 4 cm in length, these species usually live at high altitudes in the Albanian Alps and their venom does not pose a risk to a healthy adult.
