The very discreet desman of the Pyrenees frequents the rivers of the chain and the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula.

-

Gérard Monge

  • The Pyrenean Desman has seen its distribution area drastically diminish over the past twenty years.

  • After a European plan, a national action plan will be launched in 2021 to save the trumpet rat, from which there is still a lot to learn.

Launched in 2014, the European Life + Desman program ended in June.

But the Conservatory of Natural Areas (CEN) Occitanie is already working on the next step in order to ensure the survival of the very discreet

Galemys pyrenaicus

, also called the trumpet rat.

Because the news is not very good for the small animal with a length of 23 to 27 cm, half of which for the tail.

An endemic species of the Pyrenees and the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, only discovered in 1811, this semi-aquatic insectivore is becoming increasingly rare.

And not only because this flyweight (between 50 and 80 grams), mainly at night, is very difficult to observe.

Mainly present in the eastern Pyrenees

"We are working on its distribution area," explains Mélanie Némoz, from CEN Occitanie.

However, it has decreased by 50 to 60% in the space of twenty years.

This is valid in Portugal, Spain, Andorra as in France, where the population is fragmented.

“There are three cores, in the west of the Pyrenees [Pyrénées-Atlantiques], in the center of the chain [Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne] and in the east [Ariège, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales] where we find the most beautiful populations.

"

Mélanie Némoz coordinates a national plan of action desman (PNAD) - the second after that established from 2010 to 2015 - to which CEN is putting the finishing touches, before a launch scheduled for early 2021 under the aegis of the Ministry of Ecology.

"During the ten years of the PNAD, we want to work on key sectors, with measures such as the acquisition of sites", explains this specialist, among the twenty in France who are working on this curious cousin of the mole.

The protection of the banks and the connectivity of the rivers are essential for the survival of the species.

- Gérard Monge

If these nuclei are made sustainable, it will then be time to study the means of reconnecting them, thanks to the lessons learned from the Life + Desman program.

The various players in the hydraulic sector, from ERDF to CEN via Dreal, have learned to work together to try to preserve natural banks, where the desman shelters, and the connectivity of rivers, so that the the animal is not trapped.

"This is all the more important since it was discovered a short time ago that the desmans could travel a few kilometers in one or two days, and not between 500 m and a kilometer as we thought. before, ”continues Mélanie Némoz.

An ultrasound animal

Another recent lesson: “out of three individuals that we captured, two emitted ultrasound.

We can therefore imagine ultrasound to push them away from dangerous areas or, conversely, to capture them.

The animal is then equipped with a chip in order to follow it in its mysterious peregrinations.

Radiological tracking remains the main source of information, with genetic traces (hair, excrement, etc.).

Desman des Pyrénéeshttps: //t.co/da59nM1JIU



Welcome to the podcast of the book Desman des Pyrénées.


Do you know the Desman des Pyrénées?

Curious little mammal that would populate the Pyrenean eu courtyards.

Follow a young person step by step […] pic.twitter.com/oyKDksMmD6

- Lots of podcasts (@pleindepodcasts) April 6, 2020

Life + Desman also helped to publicize this small mammal, until then very little known even in its region, thanks to various initiatives such as the Desman Caravan or the publication of books.

Its very particular appearance, with this strange removable trunk, also plays a role in its recent popularity that the trumpet rat puts at the service of other less charismatic animals, but also in danger, which share its living environment (aquatic shrews, Pyrenean euprocts …).

The desman, "umbrella species"

“The desman is an umbrella species, synthesizes Mélanie Némoz.

When we work on its preservation, we are also working on that of other species.

That said, the fight is far from won to ensure the survival of this very discreet herald of the Pyrenean fauna.

In addition to human developments and pollution, it is also threatened by the gluttony of American cats and mink, an extremely invasive species.

However, unlike the brown bear, there will be no Slovenian congeners to come and support the natives.

If there is indeed a Muscovy desman, this oriental cousin is much more massive (up to 500 grams) and, moreover, also in great danger of extinction.

Planet

VIDEO.

Discover the trumpet rat, one of the most mysterious animals in Europe

Planet

VIDEO.

Scientists find traces of the Pyrenean desman using its droppings

  • Toulouse

  • Video

  • Aquitaine

  • Animals

  • Biodiversity

  • ecology

  • Pyrenees