Animal
Char
[Salvelinus alpinus]
Length up to 75 cm, Weight up to 7 kg. Also called mountain trout. The abdomen is red, orange or yellow. The fin edges shine in the distance in the water. The char is an Arctic fish that lives in Vindelfjällens
cold lakes and ponds. It must have oxygen-rich water and live on small crustaceans,
mosquito larvae, insects and other fish.
Willow grouse
[Lagopus lagopus]
Length 37–42 cm. Wingspan
55–66 cm. Chicken bird with changing plumage. The summer suit has a reddish-brown color than the mountain grouse and the body and beak dimensions are larger. Dalripan thrives in both coniferous and mountain birch forests.
The game is at first spooky laughing
to then pass into a nasal
kabau kabau kabau.
Clean
[Rangifer tarandus]
Vindelfjällen is Sweden's most densely populated area with about 150,000 reindeer divided into 3 Sami villages (Ran, Gran and Umbyn). A reindeer can weigh up to 150 kg. Both sexes have horns. The cormorant (male) sheds the horns after the rut in September /
October. The vultures (females) shed theirs after calving in May. The hooves are strongly moon-shaped, unlike the moose which are pointed. The reindeer is the only deer that eats lichens. But they also like herbs and shoots. Do not disturb the reindeer when you
visit Vindelfjällen!
Arctic fox
[Alopex lagopus] Weight 3–5 kg. In Vindelfjällen there are hundreds of mountain fox huts in sandy ridges and between rocks in large-block land. Today, only a few are used by mountain foxes.
After the declaration of protection in 1928, the mountain fox population has still not recovered. Today, food shortages are a major problem.
Fjällräven is an omnivore with a predilection for lemmings and voles and also uses carcasses in the winter.
Fjällämmeln
[Lemmus lemmus]
Fjällämmeln occurs only
in Scandinavia. Length 10–15 cm. Lives on moss and cataracts. During certain years, it can occur in large numbers, so-called lemming years. The lemming has a rapid rate of reproduction. A female can give birth to up to 13 cubs already 3
weeks after his own birth. At high densities, the population naturally crashes every four years. In recent years, lemming years have become more unusual.
Causes such as icing on the ground, diseases, and plant toxins from cataracts have been speculated about. The lemongrass is the mountain fox's main food.
Fjällpipare
[Charadrius morinellus]
Length 20–24. Wingspan 57–64
cm. Breeds on the bare mountain, from June
until mid-August, usually on
high plateaus with short vegetation.
Summer suit with rust brown chest
with white chest strap is characteristic.
You are often surprised by how fearless the mountain piper is during nesting.
Moose
[Alces alces]
Weight up to 600 kg. The moose is the largest mammal in the Vindelfjällen. The coat is ragged brownish black with the exception of the legs which are grayish white.
The male animals begin to develop horns already during their first year of life.
The horns then become larger each year until the age of 6-9. The moose's tracks are large and pointed. During the summer, the moose roam the mountains to wander down into the forests during the winters, often tens of miles far down into the spruce forest where the snow cover is thinner.
Wolverine
[Gulo gulo]
Length 80 cm, tail 15–25 cm.
The wolverine is heavily built, short-legged and has large paws. The brown coat has a lighter yellow band on the side of the body. The County Administrative Board inventories and monitors wolverine rejuvenations in Vindelfjällen annually.
Bear
[Ursus arctos]
Length 135–250 cm, weight 100–300 kg. Usually stays in the forest land, but grazes in
the mountain slopes. The bear is omnivorous. Herbs, roots, berries, ants and sometimes sheep, reindeer or moose are included in the diet. The bear can eat berries corresponding to one third of its weight every day during the autumn. The bear is quite unusual in the reserve, but about ten individuals occur annually.