| Location: |
Russia and Asia Minor |
| Project Managers: |
Jeff Ettling |
| Species: |
Mountain Viper |
| Priority: |
High |
Background
The mountain viper complex, including the Armenian Viper is comprised of eight species with a distribution that includes southeastern Europe, Asia Minor and Armenia. Our limited knowledge of their natural history is due in part to restricted and isolated rocky habitats. Over the past twenty years the combination of habitat alteration and over-collection has drastically reduced mountain viper populations. In fact, five of the eight species are now listed as either vulnerable or endangered. Unless proper equipment, public education and human resources necessary for conducting basic conservation activities is developed, the future of this complex of snakes will continue to lose critical "safety nets" for its survival.
St. Louis Interest
Over the past decade, the Saint Louis Zoo has become a leader for its captive work with mountain vipers. With a vested history in this snake complex, the Zoo found value in focusing its conservation efforts on a group largely ignored by other zoological institutions. The Zoo's studies of captive vipers have already provided useful information on reproduction and behavior. The Center for Near Eastern Viper Conservation will combine ecological field studies and taxonomic investigations to provide the fundamental data necessary for development of conservation management guidelines.
Goal
To implement conservation management and public education to ensure the future of mountain vipers in the wild.
Conservation Science
The Center will initiate radio-telemetry and mark/recapture studies on Armenian vipers in 2004 to determine home range size, seasonal activity patterns, habitat preferences and demography. Health assessment data from wild specimens will be used to establish a medical database crucial to the management of captive mountain vipers.
Other initiatives will include: (1) working with the Zoo's Education Department to develop educational materials for use in Armenian and Turkish communities, (2) additional field studies involving mountain viper species from Turkey, and (3) collaborating with the "European Association of Zoos and Aquaria" (EAZA) on a educational poster and captive breeding program for ocellate mountain viper.
Partners
Zoological Institute - Russian Academy of Sciences
Tula Exotarium
Bioresources Management Agency
University of Goteborg
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