Habitats

Rila National Park ranks among the most significant of protected areas in Bulgaria and Europe. Its territory is an extremely diverse network of habitats, most of which have remained practically untouched by human activity and preserve diverse and wholly natural animal communities. In addition, the Park provides a major ecological corridor between the European, Mediterranean, and pre-Oriental fauna.

Species

Rila National Park’s fauna is extremely rich, comprising 2,934 species of invertebrate organisms and 172 species of vertebrates, most of which form numerous, healthy, and viable populations.

Among the invertebrate fauna, 242 endemic species and subspecies have been identified, as well as 244 relict taxa—survivors of past geological ages. Evolutionary processes continue within the Park and new invertebrate species emerge undisturbed. Thirteen of Rila’s invertebrates are threatened with extinction on a global scale.

Five species of fish, 20 species of amphibians and reptiles, 48 species of mammals, and 99 species of birds represent the vertebrate fauna. Twenty-four of these vertebrate species are listed in the World Red Data Book as nearly extinct.

The Park contains the largest Bulgarian populations of Balkan chamois, capercaillia, hazel hens and rock partridges, Tengmalm’s owls and little owls, and martens, as well as the largest high mountain population of the souslik.

Rila National Park has some of the healthiest and most viable populations of predatory birds in Europe. The Park is also home to a group of birds characteristic of the high mountain zone: wall creeper, alpine chough, and alpine accentor, globally representing this region for the ornithofauna of the alpine biome.