It is no mere coincidence that the nutcracker was chosen as the logo for the National Park.
Nutcrackers feed on the seeds of the cembra pine, which they extract from the cones with their sharp beak. During autumn each individual nutcracker stores nuts for the winter in hundreds of hiding places, 80 percent of which it is able to find again later. Young cembra pines shoot from the remainder. How nutcrackers find their stores of nuts again under the snow remains a mystery.
The nutcracker is a member of the crow family (Corvidae) that also includes the magpie and alpine chough.
The nutcracker is easily recognisable by its dark brown, white-speckled plumage and its strong beak which can be up to 4 cm long. Holding the cone with its toes, the nutcracker hacks the nuts from the big cembra pine cones with its sharp beak, slipping them into its crop.