De reuzen, dwergen en rariteiten van de Gargano (Zuid-Italië). Een typisch geval van een endemische eilandfauna

The following is a short report, based on the lecture given at the WPZ day (spring 1997), and is therefore by no means meant as a scientific treatise, but as an informal introduction to my investigation. Karst fissures in the region Gargano, South Italy, appear to yield a range of bizar animal species, such as big mice, giant dormice, tremendous ground owls, terrific hedgehogs and deer with five horns. As no land carnivores occur in the fauna list, we apparantly deal with an endemic islandfauna. This report starts with some common aspects, followed by a short description of the animal species that have been discovered sofar.