Threatened brown snake has a friend in Ecomuseum Zoo
The Ecomuseum Zoo in Ste-Annede-Bellevue is trying to help protect the brown snake, a reptile found mostly in the Greater Montreal area.
The brown snake population has decreased in recent years due to loss of habitat, said Pierre-Alexandre Bourgeois, a biologist in research and conservation at the Ecomuseum.
But thanks to financial support from the Fondation Hydro-Québec pour l’environnement, from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s EcoAction Community Funding Program and from the Fondation de la faune du Québec, the Ecomuseum will continue with efforts to protect the habitats of the “most urban of Quebec reptiles.”
The Ecomuseum Zoo has been working to protect and conserve the natural habitats of the brown snake on the island of Montreal and surrounding areas since 2015.
With a second grant of $25,900 from the Fondation Hydro-Québec pour l’environnement, Bourgeois said the Ecomuseum Zoo will be able to develop and restore more habitats to help maintain brown snake populations.
“The brown snake is only found in the Greater Montreal region in the province of Quebec, so it’s very, very exposed to urban development,” Bourgeois said. “It’s living in open areas like prairies and fallow land, agricultural fields, on the side of train railways, underneath power lines. Anywhere we find prairies and open areas, there is a possibility the brown snake is there.
“Unfortunately, those are the areas that are targeted for development,” he added.
While government conservation efforts often protect mature forests and wetlands, Bourgeois said open areas home to the brown snake are left unprotected.
“Open areas are disappearing at a very fast rate and so is the brown snake population, unfortunately,” he said. “There is a link between loss of habitat and the loss of population.
“Our project aims to restore and improve the habitat of the brown snake in those protected areas. We’re trying to protect more habitat, working with cities and communities to do that.
“It’s not just brown snakes that are found in open areas. Wild flowers and pollinators are found there as well. Many birds are declining as well, so we need to mitigate the impact of development.”
The Ecomuseum Zoo’s conservation team has helped to restore brown snake habitats in the Boisde-l’Île-Bizard, Bois-de-Liesse and Pointe-aux-Prairies nature parks.
The next phase of the project will take place in the Île-de-la-Visitation Nature Park, Refuge faunique de Deux-Montagnes and the Îlesde-Boucherville National Park.
Bourgeois said conservation efforts will focus on providing structures and landscaping beneficial to the snakes.
“Many protected areas are not optimal for the brown snakes, so we will build shelters for the snakes to heat up, to find refuge against predators. In some places, we’re going to build hibernation sites. So we’ll dig a hole, put a lot of rocks, then a cover to try and insulate the site during winter.”
The brown snake, which grows on average to about 25 to 35 centimetres in length, eats mainly snails, slugs and earthworms, Bourgeois said.
“It’s important ecologically because it’s right in the middle of the (food chain). It’s a predator that will control those populations and often slugs can be pests to gardens and natural fields. It’s also a prey to other predators.”
The brown snake is prey to falcons, hawks, crows, weasels and red foxes.
Bourgeois admits selling conservation efforts to the public for a snake is not easy, but the reptile is important ecologically nonetheless.
The Ecomuseum Zoo will also produce educational videos to raise awareness of the species.