Tatra(s) National Park (; abbr. TANAP) is one of the nine national parks in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. It is situated in North Central Slovakia in the Tatra Mountains. The park is important for protecting a diverse variety of flora and fauna, with many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species, including the Tatra chamois. The Tatra Mountains form a natural border between Slovakia to the south and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

to the north, and both countries have cooperated since the early 20th century on efforts to protect the area. Poland created an adjoining national park, and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

later designated the combined effort a transboundary

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Geography

The Tatra National Park protects the Slovak areas of the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains (; ; ,'' Vysoki Tatry''; ; ), are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains ...

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in the Eastern Tatras (''Východné Tatry'') ranges, and areas of the Western Tatras (''Západné Tatry'') ranges. The west part of the Tatra National Park is situated in the

Žilina Region The Žilina Region (; ; ) is one of the eight Regions of Slovakia, Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts (okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region was established in 1923, however, in its p ...

and the east part in the

Prešov Region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...

. The national park covers an area of 738 km² (284.9 mi²), and the buffer zone around the park covers an area of 307 km² (118.5 mi²); 1045 km² together. The park offers 600 km of hiking trails and 16 marked and maintained bike trails.

Mountains

The Western Tatras are divided into ''Osobitá'', ''Roháče'', ''Sivý vrch'' (literally Grey Mountain), ''Liptovské Tatry'' (Liptov Tatras), ''Liptovské Kopy'', '' Červené vrchy'' (Red Peaks). The Eastern Tatras consist of

(''Vysoké Tatry'') and Belianske Tatras (''Belianske Tatry''). The highest peak in Slovakia at in elevation, Gerlachovský štít, is located within the park. It is also the highest point in the Tatra Mountains and the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

. Bystrá is the highest mountain in the Western Tatras at , and Havran mountain (English: Raven) is the highest point in the Belianske Tatras at .

Lakes and streams

There are more than a hundred tarns, or mountain lakes, in the park. ''Veľké Hincovo pleso'' is the biggest with an area of 0.2 km², and the deepest at . The area around the settlement of

Štrbské Pleso Štrbské pleso (, , , or ) is a picturesque tarn (lake), mountain lake of glacial origin and a top tourist destination in the High Tatras, Slovakia. It is the second-largest glacial lake on the Slovak side of the High Tatras, after Veľké Hi ...

is a

drainage divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

for two

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s. To the east of this divide,

streams A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large stream ...

are the

headwater The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

s of the Poprad River, of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

drainage basin. To the west of the divide streams are

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

of the

Váh The Váh (; , ; ; Wag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (''in Geograph ...

, of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

drainage basin. The most popular waterfalls include ''Studenovodské vodopády'', ''Kmeťov vodopád'', ''Vajanského vodopád'', ''Roháčsky vodopád'', and ''Vodopád Skok''.

Caves

About 300 caves are located within the national park, however Belianska Cave (''Belianska jaskyňa'') is the only one open to public. It is located near the village of Lendak. The longest cave system discovered to date is the Cave of Javorinka.

Park history

Tatra National Park was established on 1 January 1949 and it is the oldest national park in Slovakia. In 1987, a section of the Western Tatras was added to the national park. In 1992 the national park became a part of the

Man and the Biosphere Programme Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the 'improvement of relationships' between people and their environments. MAB engages w ...

, jointly with the adjoining Tatra National Park of Poland. The areas of the park and its buffer zone were adjusted in 2003. Since 2004, the national park belongs to the

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

ecological network.

Ecology and biota

The geological composition, soil properties and climate conditions all contribute to the original flora and fauna in the park.

Flora

Almost two thirds of the park are covered with forests, mainly with

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

and

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very clo ...

(''Picea abies''). The most widespread tree is the

, followed by the

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gr ...

, Swiss pine (''Pinus cembra''), European larch (''Larix decidua''), and

mountain pine ''Pinus mugo'', known as dwarf mountain pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, Swiss mountain pine, bog pine, creeping pine, or mugo pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and So ...

. Leafy trees, especially

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

s, mainly grow in the Belianske Tatras. About 1,300 species of

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified tissue ( ...

grow in the park, of which 37 are endemic to the Tatras, 41 are endemic to the Western Carpathians and 57 are endemic to the Carpathians. Notable plants endemic to the Tatras include Tatra scurvy-grass (''Cochlearia tatrae''), yellow mountain saxifrage (''Saxifraga aizoides''), ''Erysimum wahlenbergii'' of the wallflower genus, '' Cochlearia tatrae'', ''Erigeron hungaricus'' of the genus '' Erigeron'', and others.

Ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

relicts A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

include ''Ranunculus alpestris'' of the genus ''

Ranunculus ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...

'', glacier crowfoot, ''Dianthus glacialis'' of the genus ''

Dianthus ''Dianthus'' ( ) is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in north Africa and in southern Africa, and one species (''D. repens'') in arctic North Am ...

'', ''Gentiana frigida'' of the

gentian ''Gentiana'' () is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family ( Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With over 300 species, it is considered a large genus. Gentians are notable for thei ...

genus, ''Primula minim'' of the genus ''

Primula ''Primula'' () is a genus of herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants in the family (biology), family Primulaceae. They include the primrose (''Primula vulgaris, P. vulgaris''), a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common specie ...

'', yellow mountain saxifrage, dwarf willow, net-leaved willow (''Salix reticulata''), and others.

Fauna

Animals are represented by 115 species of birds, 42 mammals, 8 reptiles, and 3 amphibians. There are also many

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

. Notable ice age relicts are '' Branchinecta paludosa'' fairy shrimp, the three-toed woodpecker, ring ouzel, spotted nutcracker, and others. Mammals in the park include the endemic Tatra chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica''), a unique goat—antelope that is an

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

critically endangered species An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of the ...

. Other

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s include the Eurasian brown bear,

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...

marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

, fox,

Alpine marmot The alpine marmot (''Marmota marmota'') is a large ground-dwelling squirrel, from the genus of marmots. It is found in high numbers in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, at heights between in the Alps, Carpathians, Tatras and N ...

and the Tatra marmot.

References

External links

official Tatra National Park administration websiteSlovakia.travel: Tatra National Park
{{authority control National parks of Slovakia Biosphere reserves of Slovakia Protected areas of the Western Carpathians High Tatras Eastern Tatras Western Tatras Geography of Prešov Region Geography of Žilina Region Natura 2000 in Slovakia Protected areas established in 1949 Tourist attractions in Prešov Region Tourist attractions in Žilina Region Tatra Mountains 1949 establishments in Czechoslovakia