* Authors: Virginia Cobeño and Saray Del Brio *
Who would ever have thought there would be a connection between ladder-snakes and electricity pylons? We have always focused our energies and know-how on warm-blooded animals. However, nature surprises us on a daily basis, and one day we came across ladder-snakes.
These animals are not very well-liked and the stories or legends in which they are depicted as our allies are few and far between. Instead, they are usually depicted as fearsome creatures that are blamed for luring mankind into original sin. However, as we discovered, the more one learns about these animals, the less one fears and rejects them.
It all started when we realised how often these animals were involved in exceptions occurring in the distribution network.
Why do they climb up? What is it about the pylons that they like so much? Our curiosity about why these reptiles tended to climb up electricity pylons motivated us to carry out a two-stage research project along with the Animal Biology Department at the University of Salamanca.
The first stage was carried out in captivity. Ladder-snakes were captured, pylon replicas were built for the purposes of the experiment and a video surveillance system in the experimentation area meant that we were able to follow every detail of the ease with which they climbed up the metallic structures and how they reacted to the various stimuli of odours, warmth and movement the biologists used to lure them. That was how we managed to develop a suitable climbing deterrent to prevent them from climbing up and being subsequently electrocuted.
However, as we wanted to understand more about the reasons for this phenomenon, we set up the second stage of the project, which consisted of monitoring the snakes in their own ecosystem. This stage was carried out in the open countryside, in an area with numerous medium voltage pylons and a long list of previous incidents of this kind.
The chosen landscape was on the borders of the mountain-range in the Dessert de les Palmes nature park in the province of Castellón, which is renowned for the scent of its orange-groves separated by the ancient and painstakingly built dry stone walls that mark out the land for the owners and are an ideal hiding-place for ladder-snakes.
Once again, some snakes were captured and a radio emitter was inserted in them to enable us to track their movements over a period of several months. None of this would have been possible without the collaboration and assistance of the Veterinary Medicine Department at the La Granja del Saler Fauna Recovery Centre and of the Regional Government of Valencia (Generalitat).
The daily tasks of searching for and locating the snakes were not easy. There were several ups and downs along the way. It was such a surprise when we found that one of them had been attacked by an eagle that had chosen them for its prey! Nature is something that is constantly developing and it is often unforeseeable.
After more than two years with various tests and scenarios, we now know a little more about how these snakes behave in their natural surroundings and about how to improve how they interact with electricity pylons. This in turn allows us to reduce the number of incidents that occur.
Thousands of kilometres demonstrate that our activity interacts on a direct basis with the natural environment and that it is fundamental that we don’t end up setting up traps for animals. We have to learn to co-exist with nature and to respect it. In short, we have to be sustainable.
The Sustainability Department of Iberdrola Distribución is working to improve the way we interact with the environment. As well as our daily efforts on behalf of the environment, we also have strong commitments with the scientific and research communities and we analyse the problems and opportunities that arise with the fauna and flora that accompany us as we carry out our work. Once again, partnerships help to promote progress.
