Parco della Preistoria di Rivolta d'Adda

Parco della Preistoria di Rivolta d'Adda (Rivolta d'Adda Prehistory Park) is an Italian naturalistic park of more 100 hectares of secular wood, situated in outskirts of the Rivolta d'Adda commune, Cremona province. The park is adjacent to the homonym Adda river and characterized by 30 reconstructions of prehistoric animals (inclusive prehistoric men), hundred semi-liberty wild animals, a botanical itinerary with plants signalled, natural environments (as: a swamp, lawns, lakes, etc.), picnic reggeds areas, cafe, playing parks, a labyrinth, shows fossils, etc., the all along a shaded course. The access to the park is exclusively pedestrian but is allowed the access by bicycles and dogs provided of leash too. The park is also recognized by various national and local corporate body that testify the validity of the structure as guide to the environmental education, not only for children but for adults too.

History of the park

The first jobs of realization of the park go up again March 1976, which lasted two years. From the '76 to the '78, besides the jobs of realization, were iserite the prehistorical animal reconstructions, scientifically realizes with attention, in the end that seemed true animals. In fact, was possible to create these reconstructions beginning from the skeletons fossils recovered in various international sites, in which were well studied and analyzed the details, as the muscularities, the fleshy parts and the skins; in this way, was possible to realize some models in miniature, followed by reconstructions in fibreglass, every to natural greatness, just as these animals million of years ago appeared.The other more meaningful amplifications have been:

*September 1978: opening and inauguration of the park;
*1982: inauguration of the show fossils and mineral;
*1988: insertion of new visitors capacity improvement structures;
*2000: insertion of new reconstructions of prehistoric animals.

Botany

Park Flora

Along the Adda left side, the park offer the possibility to know the vegetation of partial wooded formations, as the Northen Italy forests has been subject, for many centuries, to the various agricolture activities, reclamations and deforestations. In this line of the river is, in fact, possible to find the last hems of the primordial forest, characterized by deciduous leaves. The park wood entertains, also, intermixed kinds woody, as: poplars, elms, locust trees, etc. Even if the park suffers the infiltration of other wild kinds (how violets, primroses, hawthorns, etc.) and of the ancestral cultivations, its brushwood is nearly valuable.

Wood

The park wood is a mixture of latileaves deciduous. The forest structure is divided in three layers: arboreal, shrubby, grassy. The arboreal is constituted from plants to tall stem (over the 15 m of middle height). The trees foliage of this layer give a seldom continuous coverage, giving the impression of an open forest. The shrubby layer is characterized by plants to varying height (from 1 to 7 m). The grassy layer is constituted by various kind, among which climbing kind too, how the ivy.

The swamp

In the terminal part of the course, there is a swamp, consequential from the near herons lake (lago degli aironi). It is characterized by an ample curve, evolved in the time with the detachment from the quoted lake (meander). Here it is possible to admire the vegetation on the sides too, characterized from: willows and larches; the rest is aquatic vegetation, characterized from: water lilys, nasturtiums, etc.; in the muddy parts are noticed: cattails and marshy reeds. The rest of the vegetation, present in the center of the swamp, is constituted from: submerged plants, cried plants, semicried plants, reeds, etc.

Zoology

Park Fauna

The park entertains a great ecosystem of interactive animals with the physical environment. In the park are present small mammals, as: hares (that live in the brushwood), squirrels, rural muoses, [dormouses, etc. It is possible, but not always, to sight some carnivores too, as: foxes, rates, curlys, moles, etc. Very frequent and easily notable in the park are, obviously, the insects, as: butterflys, hornets, cockchafers, ladybirds, mosquitos, bugs, wasps, bees, ants, etc. There is the presence of amphibians too, as: frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, etc. Among the reptiles are presents: lizards, green lizards, water snakes (harmless), etc.; the presence of vipers has never been signalled. All these animal kinds live in liberty.In the park are present kind in semiliberty too, that to say that in ample enclosures, as: bucks, donkeys, horses, goats, sheeps, fallow deers, parrots, peacocks, etc.

Reconstructions

In list are listed the 30 reconstructions of the kinds on the basis at the order of apparition along the course.
* Pterygotus;
* Coccosteus and Cephalaspis;
* Eryops;
* Dimetrodon;
* Moschops;
* Sauroctonus and Scutosaurus;
* Plesiosaurus;
* Stegosaurus;
* Scolosaurus;
* Brontosaurus;
* Triceratops;
* Styracosaurus;
* Gallimimus;
* Iguanodon;
* Anatotitan;
* Tyrannosaurus;
* Tarbosaurus;
* Velociraptor;
* Proconsul;
* Australopithecus;
* Cromagnon man;
* Diatryma;
* Platybelodon and Machairodus;
* Pteranodon;
* Cavebear
* Neanderthal man
* Mammuth.

External links

* http://www.parcodellapreistoria.it/