The
Common Adder is not found in the warmer parts of France de Chaudefour , France
The
Vallée de Chaudefour is a glacial valley in the heart of the volcanic massif du
Sancy in the Auvergne National Park
The
Chaudefour Valley
The
inventory has been realised by Frederic Durand, of the Société d’histoire
naturelle Alcide-d’Orbigny. The methodology consisted of field surveys with a
systematic search and in all 248 Adders have been counted inside the reserve
and 19 outside the reserve. They have all been identified, named with an
individual tracking record. The colouring, the patterns of the head and
arrangement of cephalic scales allow individual photographic recognition,
rather like finger prints in humans.
The effective boundary between where the Asp Viper is to be found at lower altitudes and the Adder is directly
on the boundary of the reserve where a hybrid pregnant female was found and is
the third known case of such a hybridization identified in France.
In
June of 2016, officers from the departmental ONCFS, (Office National de la
Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage), for the Puy-de-Dôme participated in a day of
recognition where 1 Grass snake and 19 Adders
were measured, weighed and photographed.
The
ONCFS officers were able to practice finding the vipers which can be hard to
find, especially males, (females that bask on rocks to thermoregulate are usually
easier). They also had the opportunity to handle the snakes and discuss the
monitoring program with specialists, (sounds like a fun day out).
The
implementation of this virtually unprecedented comprehensive monitoring program
and the relatively large number of snakes detected where they were thought to
be scarce is very interesting given that overall this species is rapidly becoming
threatened in much of its range. In general the loss of habitat and
fragmentation of the population elsewhere has pushed this species from the
status of "least concern" to "vulnerable" category on the
2015 red list.
