The first loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) from eggs brought from Cabo Verde have hatched in Fuerteventura, in the Playa de Cofete in the Parque Natural de Jandía. More are expected to hatch from a total of 781 eggs. The project is planned to last ten years as it will take at least a decade to be able to begin to measure its success when hopefully some of those turtles hatched will return to the same beach as adults.
Lucy chanced upon this Montpellier snake on Montjuic. It is remarkable that they still survive on a hill so hemmed in by urban sprawl and industry. It is also unusual for anybody to spot one. The fact that the individual is young bodes well for the population’s future.
Newly hatched turtle being measured (CSIC)
246 eggs of loggerhead turtles (tortuga boba - Caretta caretta) have hatched in the last few days on a beach in Cabo de Gata, Almeria. The eggs were taken from Cabo Verde, where a third of the world’s population of Caretta caretta lives, and form part of a reintroduction programme of the Junta de Andalucía, CSIC and the Canarian goverment (Loggerhead turtles in Fuerteventura). They have been taken to a reintoriduction sent which will raise them for the first few months to reduce mortality rates. El Mundo
It will take at least 15 years to be able to begin to measure the success of the project when hopefully some of those turtles hatched will return to the same beach as adults. Small populations of loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean exist in the Turkey and Greece.
800 Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta - tortuga boba) eggs are to be buried today in La Playa de Cofete de Fuerteventura in an attempt to reintroduce the species in the Canary Islands. The eggs have been brought from the Cape Verde. 200 more are to be sent to the Centro de Recuperación de Especies in Taliarte, in Gran Canaria, and 400 to the Estación Biológica in Doñana, Andalucia. Loggerhead turtles disappeared from the Canary Islands some 300 years ago. It wil take at least 15 years to be able to begin to measure the success of the project when hopefully some of those turtles hatched will return to the same beach as adults. Terra
More on loggerhead turtles (Wikipedia - above photo) which notes that the genus name “Caretta” is a latinization of the French “caret”, meaning turtle, tortoise, or sea turtle. Small populations of loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean exist in the Turkey and Greece.
See also: Loggerhead turtles hatch in Almeria (October 21st, 2007)
I’m pleased to announce the first iberianatureforum sponsored wildlife project. The plan is to support the conservation of the endangered Southern Midwife toad (Alytes dickhilleni - above photo from sierradebaza.org.) The idea has arisen from a visit members of the forum made last month to the Zoo Botanico in Jerez de la Frontera, the best in Spain in terms of conservation of local species, and has been organised by joint forum-owner Clive whom I quote here.
- The zoo is in the process or requesting permission to collect from the wild an endangered species of amphibian for captive breeding and release and we (The Forum) can help out with the project.
- Alytes dickhilleni is a species of Midwife toad that only occurs in the Southern part of Spain hence its common name of “Betic / Southern Midwife Toad” after the “Baetic” mountain range in the Andalucía. (In Spanish it’s a Sapo partero bético).
- The project needs some large glass terrariums (5) in order to house and breed the toads that cost (the terrariums) about 150 Euros each. In return for our help the Iberianature Forum will be named as sponsors and our collaboration will be mentioned in all the results returned from the project. (We will be famous at last!)
- The community of iberianature has come a long way over the last year or so and we have all contributed to an excellent resource about the natural world of Iberia but this, for me at least, is an excellent opportunity for us as a group to help in a practical way some people who are really working hard to protect their environment.
If you like iberianature and you would like to contribute to this project please send me or Clive an email.
See on the forum
Our understanding of the reptile world is in a constant state of flux as advances in DNA techniques continue. The latest is the promotion of a species of skink on La Gomera to full species. The joint study by researchers from France, UK and Spain is published in the latest issue of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. They have baptised the new reptile Chalcides coeruleopunctatus, Lisa de Salvador in Spanish (Salvador’s or the Gomeran Skink in English), in honour of Alfredo Salvador, researcher at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid, who described it for the first time in 1975 El Mundo.
The La Palma Giant Lizard (Gallotia auaritae) has remarkably been rediscovered on the Island of La Palma. The photo of a male was taken by Canarian reptile expert José Antonio Mateo, who notes that it is probably an animal in dispersion, from a population some 500-1000m away. The task is now to find it. El Mundo
Wikipedia notes (written prior to this news) “Its decline started 2000 years ago with the arrival of humans on La Palma. It appears to have become extinct in the last 500 years. The main causes of extinction appear to have been introduced cats, consumption by people, and habitat destruction for agriculture. Although the species is believed to be extinct, there is a small chance that it could be rediscovered in a remote or inaccessible location. This happened with other giant lizards of the Canary Islands, like the El Hierro and La Gomera Giant Lizards (rediscovered 1974 and 1999, respectively); the somewhat smaller Tenerife Speckled Lizard was only discovered for the first time in 1996. ”
More here on the species from Wikipedia (English)
This young Montpellier snake eating a bird on a fence was sent to me a few month back by Robert Parker somewhere in Alicante. Note the telltale white stripes between eyes and along jaw. But what is it eating? Follow the forum thread and more pictures.
A young alligator (70 cm) was caught in Barcelona in the River Besòs yesterday. The reptile was spotted by a local naturalist doing a study on birds. Experts believe the mild temperatures on the Catalan coast and the abundant presence of swamp crayfish may allow alligators to survive the winter here. This is the second alligator to be caught in just over a year near Barcelona, after the larger alligator caught in a pool in Collserola. (El Pais)
After are a disastrous 2007, there’s some goods news for the critically endangered El Hierro Giant Lizard (lagarto gigante de El Hierro - Gallotia symonyi). ABC reports that three baby lizards have been born in captivity at the recovery centre in Valle del Golfo. Only 78 breeding lizards remain after storms of January 2007 killed some 182 lizards. Picked up on secret tenerife
More on Wikipedia El_Hierro_Giant_Lizard
Original story: 30/01/2007: Worst storms in El Hierro’s history with 500mm in 36 hours decimates population of highly endangered El Hierro Giant Lizard. Only 102 survive of world pop. of 282 have survived (El Pais) 31/1 WWF classify disaster as internationally important (WWF)
The attempts to save the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi) from extinction have been bolstered by the successful breeding in captivity of the species. At most 1500 of these newts survive in a few fast flowing streams in Montseny in an area of 40km2, making them particularly vulnerable to fire and drought. So far just 7 larva have hatched in the breeding programme of the Centre de Recuperació de Fauna del Departament de Medi Ambient (El Periodico)
Photo of a Montseny brook newt, right, larva
Of all the amphibians in Europe , the Montseny brook newt has the most limited area of distribution and it is also one of the most endangered species on the continent. More on the Montseny brook newt
A hiker has survived a viper bite in La Pedriza, Madrid, which would make it a Lataste’s viper or snub-nosed viper. 3-4 people probably die a year from viper bites in Spain, although this figure may now be lower due to the expansion in rural health facilities and the fact that there aren’t as many people working in the countryside. Sobrevivir a una víbora El Pais
Photo of a Lataste’s viper or snub-nosed viper
Venemous snakes in Spain + Bites and stings from animals in Spain Iberianature
27/02/2006 I recently bought Anfibios y Reptiles de la Peninsula Iberica e Islas Baleares (Guias Verdes) by Toni Aragon Rebollo, 2006. 39 euros or thereabouts. This is a very well organised and clearly written guide. Before the field guide itself, there is an ample introduction on the status of herps in Spain and a fascinating section on their place in Spanish folklore, from which I’ve quickly translated this on lizards.
In the north of the Peninsula, it was believed that lizards were friends of men, while snakes were related to women. They told that lizards would leap at women during their period (Translator’s note: My mother-in-law has told me about this). Similarly in Seville , geckos were said to chase after women. There also stories of lizards climbing into women’s vaginas while they slept. In the southeast there is the belief that if you come across a lizard with two tails and you put it in a plate scattered with flour, it will draw the winning numbers in the lottery (two-tailed lizards occasionally occur when a new one is regrown without the old having been totally severed). Another belief related to lizards tails is that they are a cure warts. This belief should be combated as the loss of its tail can cause great harm.
There is also lots information on the folklore around individual species in the field guide part. On the Turkish gecko we have for example:
Murcia they are known as pelás. This comes from the “powers” they are said to have. It is thought that if you misfortunate enough for a gecko to fall on your head you will go bald as a coot. In some villages just the mere spit from a gecko is enough to leave you hairless”.
All no doubt true, although biologists claim that geckos can’t spit. Thoroughly recommended. Good drawings and photos too.
See Foroum on this Book on Spanish reptiles and amphibians
9-minute extract on the Short-toed eagle from the essential “El Hombre y la Tierra”, by Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. As you will see in full gruesome detail , Águila culebrera its Spanish name (snake eagle) is well chosen. And as De la Fuente puts it in his indomitable style “even the lynx, the prince of the predators of the Mediterranean forest, stands in awe at such a feat” Remarkable.
26/11/2006 150 new species are discovered every year in Spain
An interview with Mario GarcÃa ParÃs of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in today’s (El Pais) . I paraphrase.
“There are some 60,000 species of animals in Spain, of which some 40,000 are insects. And we are incapable of knowing how many are catalogued. A species is a group of animals which are genetically compatible. There are worms which look the same but are different species and frogs which are as similar as an egg to chestnut tree, but which can breed.
It is impossible to know how many species are still to be recorded. One knows when most of the biological wealth of a country has been recorded when the rate of discovery slows down. This does not seem to be likely in the short term in Spain. We’ve been discovering some 150 new species a year since the late 1970s. And this rate has continued unabated. Since 1978, 3,627 new species have been discovered in the Peninsula, with a further 1,417 in the Canaries at an almost constant rate of 150 a year. “In the distribution maps of species there are dark areas around Madrid, Barcelona and Las Hurdes, in Extremadura. The county of Las Hurdes appears because several people from the museum spend their holidays there”.
There are even big gaps in knowledge with groups such as amphibians despite the legions of amateur naturalists out and about recording them. “A year ago we discovered a new midwife toad which only lives in the fountains of villages. We called it Alytes obstetricans pertynas. “Pertinacious†because while most amphibians are becoming extinct, this one is resisting in human settlements”.
Spain because of its geographical position and the variety of its climate is particularly rich in biodiversity, but much of this being lost. “In the county you can’t hear anything anymore. Ten years ago you heard and saw lots of insects. Now they are spraying everything and all is quiet. When I look at my field notes from 15 years ago describing swarms of bugs I think I must have been exaggerating, but the truth is I was only describing what I saw. When we visit Morocco today we see animals everywhere, just as it was here years ago. If a Goya is burnt. It’s a national tragedy, because it cannot be replaced. The same is true for a species but nobody seems to care”. See also Montseny Brook Newt
Lucy's nature blog britainnature Spain cultureTotally unrelated to Spain, but yes with nature and geography, I've been busy working on the new britainnature section, a guide to the geography and wildlife of the British Isles.
14 killer whales were observed yesterday for almost eight hours by scientists in the Canaries off Tenerife.
El Pais
I very much enjoyed these photos by Mark of a male Rufous Bush Robin (Cercotrichas galactotes) showing off to a female by Mark on the forum.
Read forum post
See all photos on his site
Steve has this very nice post on his Cornish Nature web with some lovely photos of a field trip to Los Llanos de Libar on the edge of the Sierra de Grazalema. Check out his embedded recording of Perezi's frog calls.
Los Llanos de Libar - A Land of Reptiles, Amphibians & Mole Crickets
Ospreys (águila pescadora in Spanish) have bred in mainland Spain for the first time in 80 years. Three chicks have been born in the Marismas del Odiel, in Huelva and two in Cadiz. Since 2003, 108 chicks have been released in Cádiz and Huelva from Germany (68 birds), Finland (20) and Scotland (20). The young ospreys released in Andalusia have shown normal migratory behaviour of birds raised in their own nests in the region, and have begun to fly south to areas typical osprey areas. Radio-tracking has detected them on the West African coast along the rivers in Senegal and Gambia .The presence of huge expanses of water in Andalusia in the form of reservoirs built since then bodes well for the species future. The osprey never became extinct in the Balearics where they have clung on with 20 pairs and the Canaries with 12 pairs.
The Shark Alliance has denounced the overfishing of sharks for their fins by Spanish ships. 60,000 tons were docked in Spanish ports last year.
“A new TNS Demoscopia poll, commissioned by the Shark Alliance, has revealed that people in Spain are unwittingly eating shark meat. Although 96% of those polled said that they did not eat shark, 76.4% were not aware that “cazón” and “marrajo” are sharks and nearly 33% said that they consumed these products. The results were released in conjunction with a new report from SUBMON, titled Spain: A driving force in shark fishing around the world, that documents serious fishery problems including mislabelling sharks at market.”
Read Spanish unwittingly eat shark (Shark Alliance)
For more than a decade, Spain has been one of the top five world powers with respect to the fishing and marketing of sharks. Spain’s fishing fleets, employing various gears, span the globe, taking sharks as targeted and incidental catch. Approximately 50% of the EU catch of “sharks” (all cartilaginous fishes: sharks, rays and chimaeras) is taken by Spain.
The Spanish government has agreed to “cede” (what a horrible word!) several lynxes to Portugal as part of the reintroduction programme. More, no doubt, on this soon.
EuropaPressAnd also in the areas earmarked for lynx reintroduction (Hornachuelos and Guadalmellato (Córdoba) and Guarrizas) Jaen), a questionnaire has found 68% of persons believe that the presence of the lynx in their counties will boost tourism.
Diario de Córdoba