Polish Learning Community and Resources

Endangered Mammals in Poland

In an effort to preserve the natural environment Poland, just like most other countries in the world, implements a number of regulations that legally protect various species of plants and animals from extinction. In this blog post, I’d like to share with you some basic information about selected species. The list of protected animals is very long therefore this time I focussed on three mammals, some of which, you are likely to encounter when travelling in Poland. But first, a little bit of vocabulary. I’m sure you already know the word for animal: zwierzę, plural: zwierzęta. Mammals, about which we’re going to talk today, are ssaki (ssak in singular). Zagrożenie in Polish is ‘danger’, the adjective will be, then zagrożony. Therefore if you want to talk about ‘endangered species of animals’ you simply say zagrożone gatunki zwierząt or zagrożone gatunki ssaków. You’ve guessed it, gatunek means ‘species’.

Żubr - European bison

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The biggest land mammal in Europe, unquestionably the king of the Polish forests and one of the country's symbols. Male bisons are about 3 metres in length, often they are higher than 2 metres and can weigh up to 920 kg! As you can imagine, such a big animal has always been associated with strength, courage and hard work and as such many noble families put an image of this animal in their coat of arms. Unfortunately, despite their strength, the population of these herbivores has decreased dramatically (mostly due to hunting) - they completely disappeared from England in the 12th century, from France in the 14th century and they were extinct in Germany by the 16th century. European bison (also called wisent) has been a protected species in Poland already from the 19th century. To give you an idea, in 2013 there were only 1377 European bisons in Poland, the good news is that their population grew to 2429 in 2021. Poland, which remains the world’s breeding centre of these animals, has also successfully introduced this species to other European countries. If you’d like to meet a żubr in their natural habitat, you should visit Puszcza Białowieska (Białowieża Forest) - close to the Belarusian border.

Foka - Seal (various species)

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Let’s travel up north! Another endangered animal that can be found in Poland is the seal. I believe I don’t need to introduce these carnivores to anyone. There are three species of seals that currently inhabit the Baltic Sea - foka szara (grey seal), foka obrączkowana (also known as nerpa, ringed seal), and foka pospolita (common or harbour seal). Once very common, they almost completely died out from Polish waters due to human activity and hunting (they were considered parasitic), by the 20th century there were no seal habitats around the Polish shores. Nowadays they are protected species in all the countries by the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find detailed information about their current population in the Polish waters. If you’d like to learn more about Baltic seals, you can visit Fokarium in Hel (the town at the northernmost tip of the Hel peninsula) - it’s a part of the research institute supervised by the University of Gdansk. The scientists are working to restore the population of the Baltic seals and raise awareness of their endangerment. In Fokarium you can watch the seals, learn more about their life and, if you have the time, you could even volunteer for them! The centre is also dedicated to the protection of the population of morświn (porpoise) - another endangered sea mammal.

Nietoperze - Bats

Source: Wikimedia Commons

From the sea, up to the sky! Another animal I’d like to introduce to you today is the bat. I know that many people may consider them scary but the species that can be found in Poland aren’t dangerous at all and are very useful. Moreover, many species have cute-sounding names, such as gacek, nocek, karlik, mroczek. There are some 28 species (all of them protected) of bats that can be found in Poland - all of them feed on insects, therefore they aren’t dangerous to humans. Their main role in the ecosystem is to regulate the population of insects - thanks to them we have fewer mosquitoes in our gardens! Imagine that some of these species can eat over a thousand insects in a day! I’m sure that all of you know some curiosities about bats, such as echolocation, so I don’t need to talk about them here. I’d only like to mention that Polish bats are rather small. The smallest - podkowiec mały - are only up to 4 cm long and weigh about 10 grams, however, their wing span can reach up to 25 cm. For comparison, the biggest of Polish bats - borowiec wielki - is about 8 cm long and their wing span is around 45 cm. These animals can be found all over Poland. Remember, they aren’t dangerous, if you meet a bat in Poland, just let it be, they know very well how to take care of themselves.

I hope that you learned something interesting today. I also hope that you recognize the importance of protecting our environment and living in harmony with other species. How about your country? Are there any animals that can be found only there? Do you know about any special regulations and efforts to protect certain species or reintroduce them to the ecosystem? Let me know on the forums!