Natura

Surrogate Animals

When I was little, during Ceausescu's time, I was lucky to have a godmother in Germany whose mother, Oca, not only was an ideal nanny but she also used to send me wonderful things, which went far beyond a socialist child's imagination. That is how, for my sixth

Butterfly Collections From Transylvania

 see also Gallery The Lepidoptera Collection from Transylvania and the Dr. Daniel Czekelius Palearctic Lepidoptera Collection The collections contain macro- and microlepidoptera from Transylvania numbering 7,162 specimens, as well as a number of 6,929 palearctic species.

Restrictions In The Retezat National Park

Rhododendron on Bucura lakeshore by Cristina LazaroniRestrictions have their place in a national parkMany people know why there are restrictions in a national park and agree with them. I have received various questions from tourists wanting to know why, in the Retezat National

Pseudo-Kynegetikos

excerpt I was a boy around thirteen when I first learned how to wield a rifle – though I confess that, ever since, I have made no progress in this craft, quite the contrary, I dare say! I had accompanied my old man to Whitepond Baths, that had seen the cream of the crop

Xylobiont Coleopterans

Can forests of the Carpathians be a reference point for the virgin forests of the Central Europe? The proof for this is represented by xylobiont Coleopterans Over recent years many German experts specialising in forestry have visited forests in Romania and Ukraine. On these

About Simion Florea Marian's "Insects..."

A valuable folklore study published over a hundred years ago: Simion Florea Marian, Insects in the Romanian language, faith and customs (see Chapters Zoological Portraits and A Folk Bestiary) In 1903 a unique book was published, written by Simion Florea Marian (1847-1907),

Mihai Băcescu And Jacques Yves Cousteau

Acipenser guldenstaedti The Sturgeon Collection of the Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History I had the chance to work in the institution managed by the academician Mihai Băcescu for a quarter of a century and to know well its programmes concerning the development

Biodiversity Protection Beyond 2010

The real chance that Romania has to shelter the most numerous populations of bears, wolves, chamois and lynxes (almost 33,800 species of animals, out of which 33,085 are invertebrate and 707 are vertebrate) is what inspired us to extend this invitation to the world. The

A Vision Of Paradise

The Retezat National Park is a vision of paradise, truly one of the wonders of the world An interview with Zoran Acimov, Director of the Retezat National Park, by Ion Longin Popescu The blue-eyed realm, that's how tourist guides introduce the place when they talk

The Hateg Country Dinosaurs Geo-park

The Hateg Country Dinosaurs Geo-park ( is, above all, the place where history may be studied in all of its layers, but also an area where palaeontologists are on a double watch – for fossils and for dinosaur bone thieves. In 1975, when the representatives of the Bucharest

Fox

Mythology, just like the vernacular, is a product of the folk spirit that does not excel in speculation but finds an unconscious, spontaneous, inspired, and not-at-all roundabout way of expression. Mythology presents in all sincerity the attitude of primitive man towards

Zoomorphic Interpretations In Ancient Constanta

Mithras, 1st century AD, Tomis The God Mithras stabbing the bull, 1st century AD, Gura Dobrogei (animal sacrifices in ancient meteorology)The god Mithras, the divinity of weather prediction A beautiful piece of white marble, discovered at Cumpana, close to Constanta,