According to incomplete data the Lake Ladoga area today is
inhabited by 59 species of animals belonging to 7 orders (see Annex A-3.13). Fifteen of the 59 species in the Lake Ladoga area are included in Red Data Books of the Baltic Region and Eastern Fennoscandia. The species composition in the north of the area is somewhat poorer - down to 49 species of 6 orders.
Ladoga region is a unique are of rare species
of small and large mammals concentration. Here both southern and northern species come in contact.
The species composition, abundance and distribution of mammals in
the Lake Ladoga area depend to a great extent on the same factors as in the case
with birds: landscape diversity, the region's position on the border between two
taiga subzones, many of the species living close to margins of their
geographical distribution range (Novikov et
al., 1970).
As in the case with birds, human-induced transformation of the natural complexes (mainly, felling of old-growth forests) gradually changes mammal fauna into a more southern type. The manifestations of this process are extinction or reduction in the number of typical boreal forest species (reindeer, wolverine, wood lemming, gray red-backed vole, Laxmann's shrew, etc.), and emergence and growing number of faunistic elements of the deciduous forest zone (European wild boar, European hare, striped field mouse, bank vole, northern birch mouse, etc.).
Direct and indirect anthropogenic influence also affect populations of widely distributed species in the region. Decrease in European wild boar density is due to the decrease of cultivated agricultural lands. Depression of elk population is thought to be partially connected with an increase of illegal hunting in the area. However, effect of human activity on large mammals has never been specially studied.
Nizhne-Svirsky zapovednik and adjacent northern areas of
the Olonetsky reserve - important place for brown bear, elk, wild boar, flying squirrel, European beaver, lynx, marten, muskrat.
Ladoga southern shore strip from the Syass river estuary to
Petrokrepost bay - the area of winter concentrations of elk.
Tuloksa preserve (eastern Lake Ladoga area) - model reserve
for taiga (elk, red squirrel, pine marten) and shore-dwelling (beaver, otter,
muskrat) species (Khokhlova et al., 1995).
Severo-Priladozhsky preserve (Lahdenpohsky district, Republic
of Karelia) - model reserve for the nature of the norther Ladoga. Is
particularly important for the conservation of otter and elk (Khokhlova et al., 1995).
Particularly noteworthy is the emergence of several introduced species in the fauna of the region (American beaver, racoon dog, American mink, sika deer). Uncontrolled distribution of some alien species (American beaver, American mink) has a considerable negative effect on aboriginal fauna.
