After more than 30 years of absence, signs of desman life have been noticed again in Belarus
In Belarus, signs have been found that the Russian desman lives on its territory — a species that was considered extinct in the country since the 1990s. Traces of the animals were discovered in the floodplain reservoirs of the Sozh River in the Mogilev and Gomel regions. This was reported by the Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, according to the publication «Smartpress».
The research was conducted by Irina Krishchuk, a leading researcher at the center, together with desman specialists Maria and Alexander Anufrenya from the Oksky Biosphere Reserve in Russia.
The scientists did not see the animals themselves, but found characteristic traces of their activity: burrows with underwater entrances and freshwater mollusk shells, opened in a peculiar way.
«The variety of shelter types combined with a stable food base indicates the preservation of small local populations of this species in the surveyed floodplain reservoirs of the Sozh River,» — said Krishchuk.
The desman is a relative of the mole that has existed on Earth for about eight million years. It spends most of its time underground and underwater, so it is very difficult to see it in nature. A sensitive proboscis and vibrissae help the animal navigate its environment and find food.
In Belarus, the desman population sharply declined even before the mid-20th century. In 1981, the species was included in the first edition of the national Red Book. However, it was not included in the second edition, which was released in 1993, as by that time the desman was considered extinct in the country.
Now scientists intend to continue searching for places where this animal lives. Residents of the Sozh basin are asked to report any possible signs of its presence to specialists. These include underwater passages near burrows, characteristic paw prints, and feeding sites with mollusk shell remains.
The desman is an endangered species, not only in Belarus but worldwide. Its main habitat is the European part of Russia in the basins of the Don, Volga, Ural, and upper Dnieper rivers. But even there, throughout the 20th century, its population steadily declined due to changes in floodplain ecosystems, land reclamation, death in fishing nets, and the spread of the American mink.
In Belarus, in the 1950s, attempts were made to restore the desman population in the floodplain of the same Sozh River.
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