In the day of one the global strike on the climate change, the image here let us think about the temperature gradient… but it is not so! It is the toponyms’ distribution of two big carnivores, the bear and the wolf, in Italy. The National Geographic article gives value to an interesting study led by Clara Tattoni. She demonstrated how the toponyms map dedicated to these two species ecologically so important coincides with the one of the historical distributions of the two carnivores and the higher density areas dedicated to the bears and wolves (in red in the map) correspond to those where the two species have been resisting longer in time.
Moreover, although today the relations between men and wild animals like wolves and bears is changed a lot, the study about the toponyms research reveals how much the human perception of these species was historically connected to feelings like the fear and the admiration, very similar to the ones perceived today by people…
Link:
Uno studio sui toponimi ci svela la storia di lupi e orsi in Italia