Say salve to Romulus as wolves return to Rome
ITS symbol is a she-wolf suckling the infant brothers Romulus and Remus, and now wolves have been spotted outside Rome for the first time in more than a century.
The predators were photographed by hidden cameras roaming a nature reserve just outside the busy threelane ring road that encircles the capital.
The reserve at Castel di Guido is not far from Leonardo da Vinci international airport and is run by LIPU, the Italian league for the protection of birds.
Hidden cameras captured a pair of mature wolf cubs drinking from a water hole and loping through the undergrowth of the protected area.
Biologists believe there are at least two cubs and two adults living in the reserve. The male adult has been nicknamed Romulus by researchers.
“This is the first time in more than 100 years that wolves have been found living near Rome,” Alessia De Lorenzis, a professor of natural sciences who is monitoring the wolf pack, told The Daily Telegraph. “We’re very pleased that they are back.”
The wolves should pose no threat to livestock because analysis of their excrement had shown that their diet was made up exclusively of wild boar.
“We think they probably arrived here from the area around Lake Bracciano, north of Rome, where wolves have always existed,” said Prof De Lorenzis.
Killing wolves was encouraged in Italy until the Seventies, by which time only 100 or so remained. But the species was given protected status in 1971 and has since gradually recovered. It is believed there are now 1,500 to 2,000 of the animals roaming Italy.