AGRICULTURAL AREA | |  Cultivated fields, lawns for pasture, vineyards and olive groves must all be included among the agricultural areas, as they often represent important areas where wild animals can find food.
In the flat areas of the Uccellina hills and on the plains near the sea, maremman cattle is bred free. These animals have a massive structure, huge horns, and a grey mantle with many different nuances.
Maremman horses are also bred free; this type of horses belong to the same group as the Berber horses which the Romans had imported from Numidia. The maremman horse is the product of a rigorous selection during the centuries and, despite his modest height, is well able to resist fatigue and adapt to the abrupt climate changes.
Hares (Lepus europaeus) and hedghogs (Erinaceus europaeus) live in the pasture and in the cultivated areas, although foxes (Vulpes vulpes), badgers (Meles meles), porcupines (Hystrix cristata) and wild boars (Sus scropha) also come to these areas for their night trips out of the wood.
Wild boars can be up to one metre high and weight up to two tonnes. Their fur is hard and dark, their snout long and the canines are sharp and protruding. Despite being clumsy, wild boars can be very agile and fast when running and swimming. Their feeble eye sight is well compensated with excellent hearing and sense of smell. They normally very pacific but could also become extremely dangerous if attacked. Erratic and omnivorous, they normally dig the ground to look for food. Their digging activities are very useful in the wood as this favours the distribution of seeds and the rotation of the forestall heritage. The herds are made up of females, the little ones and young male wild boars, who reached sexual maturity, leave the group to live on their own and to rejoin it only during mate ting time. The females, after a gestation of eighteen or twenty weeks, deliver between four and twelve little pigs; this can sometimes happen twice in a year.
Another mammal typical of Maremma is the porcupine which the Romans brought from Africa. This rodent has a short and stocky body, short legs and back covered with up right spikes, with black and white stripes, which sometimes can be up to fifty centimetres long. This animal prefers rocky areas, although his footprints can be found in all the areas of the Park.
Among the birds which frequent the agricultural areas, all year round, the most important ones are the slylark (Alauda arvensis arvensis), crested lark (Galerida cristata cristata), Motacilla alba alba, Saxicola torquata rubicola, grey crow (Corvus cornix cornix), magpie (Pica pica pica), sparrow (Passer italiae) Passer montanus montanus, dappled-grey (Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris), goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis carduelis), barn owl (Tyto alba alba) and little owl (Athene noctua noctua). | | AREAS OF THE FOREST | | 
For many mammals the maquis represent a place of refuge and pasture, and a shelter from the wind and sharp weather. Wild boars and foxes normally take refuge in areas where the vegetation is thicker; here sometimes it is possible to see an isolated cow, after leaving the herd in search of a sheltered place where she can give birth to her calf.
Roe bucks (Capreolus capreolus) live among holm oaks and turkey oaks, whilst the deer (Dama dama), due to the width of his horns, prefer the pine wood.
BIRDS
Among the birds which live in the wooded areas, all year round, and which also build nests here, the most important ones are the black bird (Turdus merula merula), green finch (Chloris chloris muhlei), serin (Serinus canaries serinus), corn bunting (Emberiza calandra calandra), black cap (Sylvia atricapilla atricapilla), jay (Parus glandarius galndarius), and green wood pecker (Picus viridis pronus). Whilst the most important birds of prey are the buzzard (Buteo buteo buteo), kestrel (Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus), and wild owl (Strix alaco alaco).
It is necessary to remember, however, that birds move constantly from one place to another and it is therefore only academic to link them to only one specific environment.
On the basis of their migratory instinct, birds can be distinguished into various types:
 Migrants: they build their nests in the northern parts of the northern hemisphere which explains why, in certain periods of the year, they have to travel a long way.
Birds that in Autumn or Spring pass through various areas, stopping for only a short period of time or not at all.
Winter birds: Birds that arrive in winter to spend the winter season in the same place.
Sedentary: birds that grow and die in the same place.
Among the birds that spend winter in the wood, it is important to remember the wood pigeon (Colunba palumbus palumbus), thrush (Turdus philomelus philomelus), wood cock (Scolopax rusticula rusticula), wren (Troglodytes parvulus), robin (Erithacus rubecula rubecula) and chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs coelebs).
Shrike (Lanius senator senator), small shrike (lanius collurio), white throat (Sylvia subalpina subalpina), nightingale (Philomela luscinia), turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur turtur), cuckoo (Cuculus canorus canorus), hoopoe (Upupa epops epops), and marine jay (Caracias garrulous garrulous) are among the main birds that build their nests in the Park.
| | HUMID AREAS | | The species of birds which frequent the humid areas are mainly migrants. Among the aquatic birds which frequent the humid areas of the Park, all year round, the most important ones are Anas boschas boschas, Gallinula chloropus chloropus, Fulica atra atra, Podicipes ruficollis ruficollis, Ardea cinerea cinerea, and Herodias garzetta.
The stilt birds and birds with webbed feet which come to the Park in winter or spring to stay for only a short time, without spending here the whole winter and without building a nest are: Anas querquedula, Haematopus ostralegua ostralegus, Recirvirostra avosetta avosetta, Charadrius hiaticula and Charadrius curonicus, Philomachus pugnax, Limosa and Limosa lapponica, Calidris canutus canutus, Ciconia ciconia and Ciconia nigra, Megalornis grus grus, Platalea leucorodia leucorodia, and Plegadis falcinellus falcinellus. Among the birds which spend winter in the Park there are some ducks such as widgeon (Anas Penelope), Anas crecca crecca, Spatola clipeata, Anas acuta acuta, Anas strepera, Nyroca ferina ferina, and Nyroca furigora. Many black bellied plovers (Vanellus vanellus), curlew sandpipers (Numenius arquata arquata) and wild geese (Anser anser) spend the winter in swamps and prairies. Among small birds there are Alcedo atthis ispida, nightingale of the river (Cettia cetti cetti), Cisticola juncidis juncidis, Acrocephalus scirpaceus, Acrocephalus arundinaceus, and Anthoscopus pendulinus (which builds a nest in the shape of a flask). Among the summer birds which build their nests in the park, the most important one is the bee eater (Merops apiaster) which has lively colours and builds his nest in colonies, by using his beak to dig out long and narrow tunnels on the walls of the banks and clayey shores of the rivers.
The humid areas are very important not only for the aquatic avifauna, but also for the mammals which, especially during the long period of draught, can obtain the food they need to survive. Nutria (Myocastor coypus), or beaver, is often linked to the rivers; this animal, whose renown fur has been used for years to make expensive coats, is originally from South America and, after escaping from artificial farms, has found in the humid areas of the Park the ideal habitat for living. This animal has replaced the sea otter (Lutra Lutra) which once was very popular in these areas and now almost disappeared. | | ROCKY AREAS AND DUNES | | In the side facing the sea, the basement of calcareous hills is characterised by grottos and inaccessible little passages where several carnivors find a shelter: the skunk (Mustela putorius), and the wild cat (Felis silvestris) are among the main ones. These areas are also frequented by numerous predators which can be found also in other areas of the Park, such as the pecan (Martes martes), stone marten (Martes faina), weasel (Mustela nivalis) and fox. They generally eat eggs, nests, amphibious, reptiles and small rodents.
On the dunes along the mouth of river Ombrone up to the calcareous hills, the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) digs out his lairs. This animal is one of the many small rodents to be hunted by big predators.
Sparrows (Monticala saxatilis), least flycatchers (Muscicapa striata striata), peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus peregrinus), and sometimes swifts (apus murinus brehmorum) and Tichodroma muraria build their nests on the rocks, especially on those whose access is particularly difficult. On the beaches, little stints and sandpipers can often be seen running quickly on the waterline. |
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