<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - lizards]]> 10 <![CDATA[The extinction of the lizards]]> The Pitiusa lizard (a little animal that needs no introduction to anyone who has set foot on Ibiza or Formentera) is in an advanced state of extinction, according to research by the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) published in the scientific journal Ecology. The reason for this situation is the introduction to these islands of a species of snake, called the horseshoe snake, which is a predator of lizards and has literally devastated them in Ibiza, where it already occupies 90% of the habitat. The horseshoe snake is a snake that can grow up to two meters long and is capable of swimming, so it also moves to nearby islets to continue devouring the lizards it finds there. The destruction is so advanced that very soon, perhaps this very summer, the population of Pitiusa lizards may be considered extinct. Obviously, this has an ecological impact that is in no way minor. The extinction of endemic species, such as the lizard in Ibiza and Formentera, leads to a serious alteration and impoverishment of the entire ecosystem of the area.Another piece of evidence is that the horseshoe whip snake, no matter how well it swims, did not reach the Pitiuses on its own. It has done so (the same CREAF study documents it) through the importation of olive trees. Olive trees to repopulate the island's forest park? No: olive trees as decorative trees to embellish chalets and second homes, like palm trees and other species that tend to be to the taste (of terrible taste) of the inhabitants of urbanizations, coastal municipalities, and other dreamlike environments. 'Chaletism', as Miquel Cardell calls it, is a peculiar religion, which also demands its ritual sacrifices. Among them, the importation of foreign trees that often arrive infested or inhabited by specimens of invasive species.The lizard-eating snakes give us such a transparent metaphor that it doesn't even need explaining. It's an example of how a society that bases its way of life on consumption and idiotic ostentation ends up destroying its environment (and therefore harming itself, as a society) without even being aware of it. Even worse, a society made up of individuals who, when warned of the destruction they cause, react by taking refuge in denialism, questioning the authority of scientists and attributing dark interests to them. An infantilized society, made up of adults convinced they have the right to everything (to whatever they please) and no responsibility towards others, with no idea of the common good or desire to have one, and who get angry and throw tantrums when someone tries to show them what they are doing wrong.The extinction of lizards invites us to think about our own extinction, but not at the hands of immigrants arriving by raft, but under the weight of the greed of many of our fellow citizens. Politicians are not entirely responsible: those who live on Mediterranean islands that were once privileged, thinking they are merely stages for their whims, also have a fundamental part in it. If they are told anything, they will still answer that they have already paid taxes (many of them do whatever it takes not to pay them). Many Majorcans, Minorcans, Ibizans and Formenterans have a relationship with money – an obsession – that is pathological, harmful, toxic, and destructive. Even the lizards know this.

]]> <![CDATA[Video: Horseshoe snakes have become a problem in the Balearic Islands]]>

Horseshoe snakes have become an exponentially growing problem in the Balearic Islands. In 2024, the regional government captured 3,878 snakes in the Pitiusas Islands, compared to 2,007 the previous year. Specimens have been found measuring almost two meters, although the normal length of an adult snake is between one and one and a half meters, with a weight of 500 grams. The reptile poses a danger to native fauna such as the lizards of the Pitiusas Islands and specific areas of the islands. But it doesn't only affect this species; it also threatens shrews, specifically the grilled shrew, a subspecies endemic to Ibiza, and mice.

]]> <![CDATA[The Les Malgrats lizard, at risk of imminent extinction]]>

The GOB has warned that the recent "invasion" of snakes arriving from the mainland in Ibiza and Formentera is putting the Pitiusas lizard, a species endemic to the Balearic Islands, at extreme risk of extinction. Furthermore, they denounced that the efforts of the authorities to control the spread of these snakes, especially the horseshoe snake, are "insufficient" and the lizard's future "looks very bleak."

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