About This Project

Mitigation translocation is an often used strategy that consists of 'rescuing' animals from human settlements. However, it results in high mortality rates and other negative effects in vipers. This study aims to unravel the effects of translocation in Bothrops asper, a species responsible for more than 50% of snakebites in Central America. Our study aims to assess the efficacy of translocation in managing human-snake conflict while maintaining the snakes’ welfare.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Vipers are distibuted globally, and increasing anthropization has heightened human-viper conflicts. Mitigation translocation, a common strategy to prevent interactions and support viper conservation, involves relocating snakes to safer sites. Despite being well-funded, translocation is often poorly executed, leading to stress, behavioral changes, and high mortality rates in many reptiles, though studies on tropical vipers species are limited. This project aims to assess the feasibility and impact of mitigation translocation on the behavior and welfare of Bothrops asper, a species responsible of majority of snakebites in middle america.

What is the significance of this project?

Translocation is often proposed as a strategy to mitigate the incidence of snakebites. Understanding the effects of translocation is necessary to develop management strategies that consider the welfare of individuals. We aim to assess the efficacy and negative effects of translocation in a biodiversity hotspot like the Lacandona rainforest, where socio-economic challenges exacerbate the impact of snakebites, emphasizing the need for effective conflict mitigation strategies that really contribute to species conservation.

Since the effects of translocation on tropical viper species are poorly understood, our results could be extrapolated to other species with similar life histories and help improve other management strategies such reintroduction of endangered species.

What are the goals of the project?

We will Investigate the effects of mitigation translocation on Bothrops asper, as well as the feasibility and effectiveness of mitigation translocation as a strategy to mitigate human-viper conflict.

We will use radiotelemetry to evaluate whether long-distance translocation results in increased home range extension and/or altered and increased movement in vipers.

We are going to monitor the effects of translocation on the body condition of snakes and observe whether site fidelity exists in translocated snakes (i.e., whether snakes remain at or near the release site).

10 snakes will be marked with radio transmitters and followed during 4 months, 5 will be translocated 2 km from their capture site, and 5 will remain at the capture site.