The Zasavica ( sr-Cyrl, Засавица) is a
bog in the region of
Mačva
Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; hu, Macsó) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...
, west central
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. It is a major
wildlife refuge
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 ...
and one of the last authentically preserved
wetlands in Serbia. In the 2000s it became a popular attraction with the successful
reintroduction of
beavers
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...
, which had become extinct on the same land areas 100 years before.
Location
Zasavica is located several kilometers across the
Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...
River from the town of
Sremska Mitrovica. The entire Zasavica system is located in the Mačva region and is administratively divided between the province of
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
(northern part; municipality of Sremska Mitrovica) and
Central Serbia (southern part; municipality of
Bogatić
Bogatić ( sr-cyr, Богатић, ) is a town and municipality located in the Mačva District of western Serbia. As of 2011 census, it has 28,843 residents.
Geography
Bogatić is located in the western part of Serbia. The nearest large settl ...
). It roughly extends between the settlements of
Crna Bara,
Banovo Polje,
Ravnje,
Zasavica I
Zasavica I (), also known as Zasavica () or Gornja Zasavica (), is a village in the Sremska Mitrovica municipality, in Serbian province of Vojvodina. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 772 people (2011 census).
G ...
,
Zasavica II
Zasavica II ( sr-Cyrl, Засавица II), also known as Donja Zasavica (), is a village in the Sremska Mitrovica municipality, in the Vojvodina province of Serbia. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 608 people ...
,
Salaš Noćajski,
Noćaj and
Mačvanska Mitrovica.
Geography
![Zasavica view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Zasavica_view.jpg)
The Zasavica bog is a marshy
lowland
Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland.
Definitions
Upland and lowland are portions of p ...
in the
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
of the Sava River. It is a typical elongated
oxbow __NOTOC__
An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or bullock. A bow pin holds it in place.
The term " oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meander in a rive ...
(in
Serbian: ''mrtvaja'', dead
ater Ater (Hebrew אֲתַר) is an Old Testament male name.
#A descendant of Hezekiah, who returned from Babylon ;
#An Israelite, who subscribed to Nehemiah
Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in r ...
. The fossilized, parallel bed of the Sava is so elongated that it actually stretches almost to the
Drina
The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long Balkans river, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps whi ...
river. In time,
Zasavica river was formed from the subterranean waters from the Drina and from several streams, most notably, Duboka Jovača and Prekopac canal
(gravitationally, from the
Cer mountain). The final section connecting Zasavica and Sava has been channeled (Bogaz canal). The river slowly meanders into and through the bog, widening from to almost . The marsh, consisting of several connected bogs, covers an area of . During normal water levels, the bog is deep on average, but it can get up to deep. The marshland's altitude varies from 76 to 82 meters (250 to 270 ft). The entire
biotype includes also the Batar stream and several other canal-tributaries to Zasavica, and consists of an ecological row of water and marsh systems with fragments of flooded meadows and forests.
[Zasavica site]
Through the Sava and Danube rivers, the Zasavica biotype belongs to the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean 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 bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where 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, ...
.
Human history
Remains show that humans were already settled in the marshy areas of Mačva in 5000
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
.
[ They made canals and water alleys in the marsh, using them both for irrigation and drainage. That way, they participated in the volatile process of constant change of the Sava and Drina rivers directions, creation of ]meanders
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...
, and change of the landscape. Time erased memories of the first recorded settlers and the remains of their work was attributed by the later settlers as the work of giants, creating one of two popular legends in Zasavica. Another legend connected to the area is that of winged dragons. Ancient Celtic maps show area of Zasavica as one of eight dragon-inhabited places in the Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
.[
From recent history, Zasavica is known as both the hiding place and a battle ground of ]Zeka Buljubaša
Jovan Gligorijević ( sr-cyr, Јован Глигоријевић, ca. 1785–1813), known as Zeka Buljubaša (Зека Буљубаша), was a Serbian revolutionary captain (''buljubaša'') and nobleman active during the First Serbian Uprising.
...
, one of the heroes of the First Serbian Uprising
The First Serbian Uprising ( sr, Prvi srpski ustanak, italics=yes, sr-Cyrl, Први српски устанак; tr, Birinci Sırp Ayaklanması) was an uprising of Serbs in the Sanjak of Smederevo against the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 1 ...
. He was finally defeated and killed by the Ottomans in Zasavica in 1813.
In 2017–2020, a dozen sculptures of the animals which inhabit the reserve were carved and exhibited in the open, including beaver, umbra fish and donkey. They were made by the artistic team of archaeologist Zoran Đajić. In September 2020, a massive, 15-ton heavy sculpture of a "Serbian ox" was placed at the main entry. Celebrating importance of oxen in older Serbian history, the sculpture was carved from one slab of hard, ancient Brazilian stone, formed over 1 billion years ago. The sculptor is Velimir Karavelić.
Preservation
Special reservation of nature of Zasavica was formed in 1997 and placed under the state protection as the category I natural treasure of exquisite value.[ It includes the bog and surrounding terrains, with a total area of 18.25 square kilometers.][ Of that, or 37% is placed under the level I of protection and the rest is in levels II and III. The majority of the protected area covers the water surfaces of the rivers and canals Zasavica, Jovac, Prekopac and Batar. Zasavica has a priority nomination to become a Ramsar site. It is proclaimed an Important Bird Area and since 2001 it is a member of the Europark Federation, federation of the national parks of ]Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
Wildlife
Plants
Flowering plants
There are over 600 species of plants recorded in the reservation. Several of them are endangered natural rarities and listed in the Serbia's Red Book of Endangered Species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...
: European white water-lily, yellow waterlily, water soldier, fringed water-lily, marsh nettle, sweet flag, aquatic bladderwort, triangular club-rush, common mare's tail, water violet, greater spearwort and the endemic Pannonian plain
The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only the ...
species of Pannonian cornflower
''Centaurea cyanus'', commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button, is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "corn", referring to gr ...
.[ In the Valjevac section of Zasavica, a rare and endangered marshland bio-community ''Acoro-Glyceretum maximae'' is found. The white ]orchid
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...
is also found in Zasavica.
Fungi
150 species of fungi
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...
are widely distributed in the entire reservation, in every ecosystem (ground, trees, logs, meadows, and pastures). Many are edible, including rare species of morel. Poisonous mushrooms are rare and few, including the panther cap, death cap, and yellow-staining mushroom.
Trees
Although dozens of species of trees are found, the forests, which make up % of the reservation, mainly consist of narrow-leafed ash and to a lesser extent white poplar White poplar is a common name used to refer to several trees in the genus ''Populus'', including:
* ''Populus alba'', native to Eurasia
* '' Populus grandidentata'', bigtooth aspen
* ''Populus tremuloides
''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous ...
, willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...
, or black alder Black alder is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
*''Alnus glutinosa
''Alnus glutinosa'', the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, nativ ...
. Species on the alluvial slopes include pedunculate oak
''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...
, European hornbeam, linden, and European Turkey oak. In 1962, a plantation of willow and hybrid poplars was planted.
Invertebrate
Plankton
Phytoplankton is represented with 234 species and zooplankton
Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
with 220. Representatives of the first group are the ''Batrachospermnum'' algae, fresh water sponge
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...
(''Spongilla lacustris'') and fresh water jellyfish
Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrell ...
(''Craspedacustra sowerbii''). Out of the second group, 21 taxa are new and recently discovered in Serbia.
Insects
250 species of insects live in Zasavica and 15 of them are protected. There are several rare species of longhorn beetle
The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns, are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than ...
(out of 35 living in Zasavica) and endemic Balkan species including three recently discovered in Serbia: Syrian longhorn beetle (''Arhopalus syriacus''), '' Morimus asper'' and ''Agapanthia lais''. Species of ''Cerambyx cerdo
''Cerambyx cerdo'', commonly known as the great capricorn beetle or cerambyx longicorn, is a species of beetle in family Cerambycidae. It occurs in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia), Europe (Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Cze ...
'' and '' Morimus funereus'' are protected. Endemic and rare cricket ''Zeuneriana amplipennis'', living only in Serbia, is also found.
Vertebrate
Fish
In Zasavica live 23 species of fish, categorised in 8 families and 20 genera. The most common are members of the carp family. Of those, 20 species ar autochthonous and three are imported (two from North America, one from China), though even the common carp had been introduced by Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
s.[ Seven species are protected: ''Umbra krameri'', ''Rhodeus sericeus amarus'', ]loach
Loaches are fish of the superfamily Cobitoidea. They are freshwater, benthic (bottom-dwelling) fish found in rivers and creeks throughout Eurasia and northern Africa. Loaches are among the most diverse groups of fish; the 1249 known species of ...
(''Misgumus fossilis''), ''Cobitis tenia'', etc. Six species are classified as endangered, five as vulnerable and six as rare. As part of the "Return of the autochthonous species of fish" project, the wels catfish
The wels catfish ( or ; ''Silurus glanis''), also called sheatfish or just wels, is a large species of catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, in the basins of the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. It has been introd ...
has been reintroduced into Zasavica.
Herpetofauna
Zasavica hosts 27 species of reptiles and amphibians, of which all 12 amphibian and 4 reptilian species are protected and some of them are on the preliminary list to be included into the Red Book. Six amphibian and seven reptilian species are also classified as the endangered species by the Bern Convention. Two endemic Balkan species live in Zasavica: Danube crested newt
The Danube crested newt or Danube newt (''Triturus dobrogicus'') is a species of newt found in central and eastern Europe, along the basin of the Danube river and some of its tributaries and in the Dnieper delta. It has a smaller and more slender ...
and eastern sub-species of the sand lizard
The sand lizard (''Lacerta agilis'') is a lacertid lizard distributed across most of Europe from France and across the continent to Lake Baikal in Russia. It does not occur in European Turkey. Its distribution is often patchy. In the sand lizard' ...
, ''Lacerta agilis bosnica'', which is European Protected Species.
Birds
There are 185 [ species of birds in the reserve, of which 120 are ]resident
Resident may refer to:
People and functions
* Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country
* Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training
* Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceuti ...
. Because of such large number of birds, including rarities like night heron and spotted crake
The spotted crake (''Porzana porzana'') is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. The scientific name is derived from Venetian terms for small rails.
The spotted crake's breeding habitat is marshes and sedge beds across temperate Europe into ...
, Zasavica is included in the list of IBAs, (important bird areas). Since 1998, 20 artificial nesting platforms have been placed throughout the reserve. Other species include common moorhen
The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail (bird), rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World.
The common moorhen lives around well-v ...
, little grebe
The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Lati ...
, Eurasian coot
The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...
, great reed warbler
The great reed warbler (''Acrocephalus arundinaceus'') is a Eurasian passerine in the genus '' Acrocephalus''.
The genus name ''Acrocephalus'' is from Ancient Greek ''akros'', "highest", and ''kephale'', "head". It is possible that Naumann and ...
, little bittern
The little bittern or common little bittern (''Ixobrychus minutus'') is a wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae. ''Ixobrychus'' is from Ancient Greek ''ixias'', a reed-like plant and ''brukhomai'', to bellow, and ''minutus'' is Latin for "sm ...
, mallard, common quail, white stork
The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to e ...
, black stork
The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, th ...
, Eurasian bittern
The Eurasian bittern or great bittern (''Botaurus stellaris'') is a wading bird in the bittern subfamily (Botaurinae) of the heron family Ardeidae. There are two subspecies, the northern race (''B. s. stellaris'') breeding in parts of Europe a ...
, white-tailed eagle
The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla'') is a very large species of sea eagle widely distributed across temperate Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which includes other diurnal raptors ...
, western marsh harrier
The western marsh harrier (''Circus aeruginosus'') is a large harrier, a bird of prey from temperate and subtropical western Eurasia and adjacent Africa. It is also known as the Eurasian marsh harrier. Formerly, a number of relatives were includ ...
, common kestrel
The common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus'') is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In the United Kingdom, where n ...
, mute swan, northern lapwing, etc.
Mammals
So far, 45 species of mammals are found in Zasavica. It is ideal for the water-bound species like Eurasian otter
The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of th ...
or wildcat
The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...
, which are protected all over Europe. Otters were not spotted for years though. Recent but unconfirmed sightings of otters recently prompted the ecology organisations from Sremska Mitrovica to announce an award for those who capture otter on camera.[ Fur animals also live in Zasavica, most notably muskrat. Eurasian shrew, striped field mouse, fat dormouse and several species of bats are listed as rarities in Serbia.
]
Special residents of Zasavica
Balkan donkey
Zasavica is the location of the only farm of the Balkan donkey
The Balkan donkey or mountain donkey, sr, Domaći balkanski magarac, is a breed or group of breeds of domestic donkey originating in the Balkan region. It is reported from Serbia and Montenegro.
A herd of about 120 Balkan donkeys in the Zasavi ...
on the territory of former Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
. The farm was founded in the early 1990s and holds some 120 donkeys. They are kept for meat but mostly for their milk, which is used to make the pule cheese
Pule cheese or magareći sir, is a Serbian cheese made from 60% Balkan donkey milk and 40% goat's milk.
The cheese is produced in Zasavica Nature Reserve, as conceived by Slobodan Simić, Zasavica Special Nature Reserve Manager and former Serbia ...
, one of the most expensive in the world with the price of 1,000 euros per kilogram (there are farms of the Balkan donkey
The Balkan donkey or mountain donkey, sr, Domaći balkanski magarac, is a breed or group of breeds of domestic donkey originating in the Balkan region. It is reported from Serbia and Montenegro.
A herd of about 120 Balkan donkeys in the Zasavi ...
s in Italy, Belgium and France with over 700 animals). Meat is used for the sausages and kulen while the milk is also used in the cosmetic industry (creams, soaps) but for the cream liqueur
A cream liqueur is a liqueur that includes dairy cream and a generally flavourful liquor among its ingredients.
Notable cream liqueurs include:
* Somrus, a mixture of rum and chai spices, alphonso mangoes or chicory coffee
* Amarula, which uses ...
, too. Every April, a festival called World's Donkey Day is held. Teams from several countries (Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.) compete in the preparation of the donkey stew, while other meat and milk products are being exchanged and tasted.
Beavers
The main attraction in the reservation are the reintroduced beavers
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...
. Zoologist Alfred Brehm
Alfred Edmund Brehm (; 2 February 1829 – 11 November 1884) was a German zoologist, writer, director of zoological gardens and the son of Christian Ludwig Brehm, a famous pastor and ornithologist.
Through the book title ''Brehms Tierleb ...
wrote in 1887 that a beaver has been spotted on the right bank of the Sava, near Sremska Mitrovica. Extinct in the early 1900s, four families with five members each, plus 11 single animals (31 in total) were reintroduced in 2004 with the help from the Bavarian Science Society. From Serbian side, project is conducted by the Biology Faculty of the Belgrade University
The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a List of universities in Serbia, public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 i ...
. Each animal has a subdermal tracking microchip implant.[
Initial fears that the beavers will not adapt proved to be groundless as very soon first dam was spotted and the animals began to reproduce. A dam is long and tall (of that, above the water) and located at the Batar's mouth into Zasavica. In the late 2006 a dam in the canal Glušci, which flows into the Zasavica, was discovered and the beavers, though not the dams, are spotted in the river of Jadar some to the south down the Drina. As the area surrounding the Zasavica is entirely agricultural, farmers don't share the excitement of the biologists as they claim the beavers ruin their crops saying that was the original reason for their extinction a hundred years ago, though they were also hunted for the valuable fur and the meat which could be consummated during the religious fasting.]
By 2012, beavers in Zasavica built 17 burrows and 6 dams, their population grew to a 100 and the chipped specimen have been caught near Šabac
Šabac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шабац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river Sava. , the city ...
, Obrenovac
Obrenovac ( sr-cyr, Обреновац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 71,419 inhabitants, while the urban area has 24,568 inhabitants.
The largest Serbian th ...
and even Brčko
Brčko ( sr-cyrl, Брчко, ) is a city and the administrative seat of Brčko District, in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies on the banks of Sava river across from Croatia. As of 2013, it has a population of 39,893 inhabitants.
De jure, ...
, upstream, in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
. Population found in Obedska Bara is a local one, being reintroduced in the same time and as the part of the same project as the Zasavica beavers. Initially knocking down the poplars and willows, causing damage to the surrounding arable land, after several years in which they adapted the habitat to their needs, beavers for the most part stopped being a nuisance to the local inhabitants.
By 2020 they spread all over the northern and western parts of Serbia. Apart from the Sava, Drina, and Jadar, they have been spotted in the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
, Tamnava, Tisza
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders.
The Tisza be ...
, Bega, Timiș, Great Morava
The Great Morava ( sr, Велика Морава, Velika Morava, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia.
Etymology
According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies ...
and canal systems in the Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
province. To the north, they reached Petrovaradin
Petrovaradin ( sr-cyr, Петроварадин, ) is a historic town in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, now a part of the city of Novi Sad. As of 2011, the urban area has 14,810 inhabitants. Lying on the right bank of the Danube, across from t ...
and Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...
, while at the south they are spotted near Velika Plana
Velika Plana ( sr-Cyrl, Велика Плана, pronounced ) is a town and municipality located in the Podunavlje District of Serbia. As of 2011, the town has 16,088 inhabitants, while the municipality has 40,902. Velika Plana lies on the left b ...
. They also inhabited the surroundings of Belgrade, like Ritopek
Ritopek (Serbian Cyrillic: Ритопек, ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Grocka, 20 km east of Belgrade and 19 km west of the municipal seat, on the right bank of the Danube, acro ...
and Krnjača
Krnjača ( sr-cyr, Крњача, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.
Location and population
Krnjača is located on the left bank of the Danube, across the Belg ...
, which is part of urban Belgrade, but has much unurbanized area in the former marsh of Pančevački Rit.
Mangulica
Mangulica is the only surviving autochthonous Serbian breed of domesticated pig. Other two, ''Šiška'' and ''Šumadinka'' died out. A breed, also known as "woolen pig", due to its good qualities, is considered a "noble", but it almost died out in the 1980s. Its fat has up to 80% less cholesterol
Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...
and triglycerides
A triglyceride (TG, triacylglycerol, TAG, or triacylglyceride) is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids (from ''tri-'' and ''glyceride'').
Triglycerides are the main constituents of body fat in humans and other vertebrates, as we ...
than a common, white pig.[ In 1998 Mangulica was introduced in Zasavica, but unlike Podolian cattle, they are left to roam free in the reservation, becoming ]feral
A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
since then. A cases of breeding with wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
are known. By the early 2010s, their number grew to 1,000.
Podolian
In 1998 the cattle of the Podolian breed was introduced in Zasavica. First animals arrived in the spring of 1998 from Mionica
Mionica ( sr-cyr, Мионица, ) is a town and municipality located in the Kolubara District of western Serbia. , the population of the town is 1,571, while population of the municipality is 14,263 inhabitants.
Geography
The township of Mioni ...
, in western Serbia. Pasture "Valjevac", near the small ''Goransko-ribolovačko'' lake was chosen as their home. The pasture has an area of 3 square kilometers and numbered 80 cattle by 2011. Breeding of Podolian cattle is being part of the program for the preservation of the animal species, developed by the Serbian Ministry of agriculture.[
In the reserve there are several other, today rare, breeds of domesticated animals: ]Buša cattle
The Buša or Busha is a breed or group of breeds of small short-horned cattle distributed in south-eastern Europe, principally in Albania and the countries of the former Yugoslavia – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Monten ...
, Bosnian Mountain Horse and wooly goat.
European mudminnow
The European mudminnow (''Umbra krameri'', Serbian: ''mrguda'') lives in Zasavica. It has been classified as an endangered species in the entire of Europe and placed under the strict protection by the Bern Convention.[ In Serbia it has been protected in 1993. In March 2008 the fish was discovered in the village of ]Bački Monoštor
Bački Monoštor ( sr-cyr, Бачки Моноштор) is a village located in the municipality of Sombor, West Bačka District, Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2011 census, it has a population of 3,485 inhabitant. The village has a Croat majority (th ...
, near the town of Sombor
Sombor ( sr-Cyrl, Сомбор, ; hu, Zombor; rue, Зомбор, Zombor) is a city and the administrative center of the West Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city has a total population of 47,623 (), while ...
, almost 150 kilometers north of Zasavica.
See also
* List of lakes in Serbia
References
External links
Official Zasavica site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zasavica (Bog)
Lakes of Serbia
Geography of Vojvodina
Mačva
Sremska Mitrovica
Protected areas of Serbia
Nature reserves in Serbia
Important Bird Areas of Serbia
Ramsar sites in Serbia