IberiaNature A guide to the natural history of Spain
By Nick Lloyd - Home - Contact
  

The Bear and the Strawberry tree (El Oso y el Madroño)

Brown bears were once plentiful around Madrid, and herein probably lies the origin of Madrid 's shield El Oso y el Madroño (The Bear and the Strawberry tree - a favourite morsel of bears in Spain ). The area around Madrid was known as Ursaria for some time. The Libro de Montería (Book of the Hunt by King Alfono XI states: Madrid , un buen lugar de puerco y oso ( Madrid a good place for swine and bear).

El Oso y el Madroño

The importance of the bear to Madrileños was not lost on the Republicans during the Civil War as this poster shows.

Spanish Bear News - Wolf watching in the Sierra de la Culebra - Spanish Bear News - Iberian Lynx News - Iberian Lynx - Badgers in Spain - Wolves in Spain -Wolves, boars and capercaillie - Deer in Spain - Barbary apes in Gibraltar - European and American mink - Coypu in Spain - Pyrenean mountain goat - English-Spanish-Latin mammal checklist for Spain - Comparative table of Castilian and Catalan dictionaries on zoology -- Bats in Spain - Chamois in Spain - European and American mink - Acorns and rats in Castile Mammals in Spain -Wild Cats in Spain - Hedgehogs in Spain

 

 

  

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