Tatra(s) National Park ( sk, Tatranský národný park; abbr. TANAP) is one of the nine national parks in Slovakia. It is situated in North Central Slovakia in the

Tatra Mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the high ...

. The park is important for protecting a diverse variety of flora and fauna, with many endemic species, including the

Tatra chamois The Tatra chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica''; sk, Kamzík vrchovský tatranský; pl, Kozica tatrzańska) is a subspecies of the chamois of the genus '' Rupicapra''. Tatra chamois live in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia and Poland. Populat ...

. The Tatra Mountains form a natural border between Slovakia to the north and Poland to the south, and the two countries have cooperated since the early 20th century on efforts to protect the area. Poland created an adjoining national park, and UNESCO 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, or features of geological or o ...

Geography

The Tatra National Park protects the Slovak areas of the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...

mountain range 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 ( sk, Žilinský kraj; pl, Kraj żyliński; hu, Zsolnai kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts ( okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region ...

and the east part in the Prešov Region. 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 Mountains). 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

and the Carpathian Mountains. 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 A tarn (or corrie loch) is a proglacial mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mount ...

, 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 is a drainage divide for two drainage basins. 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 streams ar ...

are the

headwater The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

s of the

Poprad River The Poprad ( hu, Poprád, links=no, german: Popper, links=no) is a river in northern Slovakia and southern Poland, and a tributary of the Dunajec River near Stary Sącz, Poland. It has a length of 170 kilometres (63 km of which are wit ...

, of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

drainage basin. To the west of the divide streams are

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Váh The Váh (; german: Waag, ; hu, Vág; pl, WagWag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów ...

, of the Black Sea 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 UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme, 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 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 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,

Swiss pine ''Pinus cembra'', also known as Swiss pine, Swiss stone pine or Arolla pine or Austrian stone pine or just stone pine, is a species of a pine tree in the subgenus ''Strobus''. Description The Swiss pine is a member of the white pine group, ...

(''Pinus cembra''),

European larch ''Larix decidua'', the European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains as well as the Pyrenees, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. It ...

(''Larix decidua''), and

mountain pine ''Pinus mugo'', known as bog pine, creeping pine, dwarf mountain pine, mugo pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, or Swiss mountain 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 family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

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

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They a ...

grow in the park, of which 37 are endemic to the

Tatras The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the high ...

, 41 are endemic to the Western Carpathians and 57 are endemic to the Carpathians. Notable plants endemic to the

include Tatra scurvy-grass (''Cochlearia tatrae''), yellow mountain saxifrage (''Saxifraga aizoides''), ''Erysimum wahlenbergii'' of the

wallflower ''Erysimum'', or wallflower, is a genus of flowering plants in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. It includes more than 150 species, both popular garden plants and many wild forms. The genus ''Cheiranthus'' is sometimes included here in whole o ...

genus, '' Cochlearia tatrae'', ''Erigeron hungaricus'' of the genus '' Erigeron'', and others. Ice age

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 almost 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed in Europe ...

'', glacier crowfoot, ''Dianthus glacialis'' of the genus '' Dianthus'', ''Gentiana frigida'' of the gentian genus, ''Primula minim'' of the genus '' Primula'', 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 a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

. Notable ice age relicts are '' Branchinecta paludosa'' fairy shrimp, the three-toed woodpecker,

ring ouzel The ring ouzel (''Turdus torquatus'') is a mainly European member of the thrush family Turdidae. It is a medium-sized thrush, in length and weighing . The male is predominantly black with a conspicuous white crescent across its breast. Females ...

spotted nutcracker The spotted nutcracker, Eurasian nutcracker, or simply nutcracker (''Nucifraga caryocatactes'') is a passerine bird slightly larger than the Eurasian jay. It has a much larger bill and a slimmer looking head without any crest. The feathering ove ...

, and others. Mammals in the park include the endemic Tatra chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica''), a unique goat—antelope that is an IUCN critically endangered species. Other mammals include the Eurasian brown bear,

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an elev ...

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 t ...

, wolf, fox, and the

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 No ...

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