Fauna and flora in Slovakia – the Tatra chamois

€5 base metal collector coin

Just as the Tatras are a symbol of Slovakia, so the chamois is a symbol of the Tatras. The Tatra mountain ranges are among the world’s smallest alpine ranges and are evidently suitable places for a creature as remarkable as the chamois to live in safety. It is not by chance that the Tatra national parks of both Slovakia and Poland feature the chamois in their logos. The Tatras’ deep valleys, rocky ridges, sharp peaks and mountain lakes have been the cradle and grave of chamois for millennia. The Tatra chamois is one of a few living links to the last ice age, its population being what experts call a ‘glacial relict’. The chamois live in herds with a social way of life. Some herds comprise more than 50 individuals. The total population of chamois on the Slovak and Polish sides of the Tatras currently numbers around 1,400. The Tatra chamois, or Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica, was classified as a separate subspecies in 1971 (by Milič Blahout). In Slovakia, pure Tatra chamois are found only in the High Tatras, Western Tatras and Belianske Tatras. The chamois are a cultural treasure, a symbol of both the Tatras and Slovakia as a whole. It is of the utmost importance to keep their Tatra habitats as undisturbed as possible and to behave responsibly and respectfully when present there.