Wild inhabitants of the Lapland Fells

Several wild species inhabit Lapland’s natural environment. However, they love their own peace and quiet so much that they are highly elusive.

On the other hand, if you pay close attention and are lucky, you may see their tracks or the remnants of an old burrow when out in the natural landscape.

Wolwerine (GULO GULO)

One of the mostinquisitiveanimalsliving in theforest, thewolverinehas a life of continuousexploration. Wolverinesoftendon’tkilltheirownpreybutfeed on carrionleftoverbyotherpredators. Wheneating, thewolverinevoraciouslygulpsits food down. Thiswastheinspiration for theanimal’sname in Finnish, ahma, which is derivedfromtheword “ahmatti”, orglutton. Butthewolverine is still a predator and caneasilykillotheranimals, such as reindeer. 

Bear (URSUS ARCTOS)

Finland’snationalanimal and king of theforest in itsownright; in thepast, thebearhasevenbeenconsidered a holyanimal. ThefactthattheFinnishlanguagehasover 200 names for thebearspeaksvolumesaboutFinns’ respect for theanimal. In the summer, theomnivorousbearfillsup on berries, grain, fish, birds and evenmoose. It spendsthewintershibernating in itswarmburrow. 

Wolf (CANIS LUPUS)

Thewolf is perhapsthemostfearedanimal to roamtheFinnishforests, eventhoughwolvesaresocareful to avoidhumansthat it is almostimpossible to run into them in thewild. Wolvesarehighlysocialanimalsthatcommunicatewiththeirpacksusinggestures, facialexpressions, bodypositions and sounds, such as howling. Sohowling is not a response to thefullmoon, as thestoriesclaim. Biologically, wolvesbelong to thesamegroup of species as domesticateddogs.