The Balearic Islands are facing a 'tragedy' as a new front emerges in the battle between swimming snakes and lizards. The horseshoe whip snake has become an existential threat to the Ibiza wall lizard, with impacts felt on Majorca and Menorca beaches as well.
Evidence of Snake Swimming Confirmed
Footage from 2024 has provided researchers and wildlife experts with proof of something they had long feared. The footage shows the horseshoe whip snake, which has arrived on Balearic Island shores and in the shallows, threatening to wipe out the entire endemic population of wall lizards, ecologists have warned the Guardian.
Oriol Lapiedra, a biologist at the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (Creaf) in Catalonia, said: 'There had been increasing anecdotal evidence from fishermen and tourists who had seen the snakes swimming, so we had thought it was happening very often. But this was the first proper evidence we had of a snake swimming from Ibiza to the islet.'
Importance of Lizards
Lapiedra highlighted the importance of the domestic lizards: 'They control insect populations, including agricultural pests, so that all changes when they disappear. But they also pollinate flowers and disperse seeds.'
Worryingly, more than 3,500 horseshoe whip snakes were captured on the island last year alone, and more than 16,000 have been culled since 2016. Forecasts indicate they will be found across 100% of the island by the end of 2027.
Urban Areas Provide Refuge
'The lizards are still present in the largest cities in Ibiza and the populations are fine,' Lapiedra said. 'Basically what is happening is that in the urban areas, the snakes get run over and people there also kill them because they do not like snakes. So for now, some of these urban areas have good lizard populations.'
However, he added: 'Each, or most, of the islets have these unique lineages that are being completely lost to science and to humanity right now. So this is a tragedy, it is like a fire in an old church.'
