EVENING NEWS (Edinburgh, UK) 25 May 05 Zoo keen to find out the scale of reptile numbers (Gareth Edwards)
Snakes and lizards found in the wild around Edinburgh are to be catalogued in a bid to help conserve rare species.
Members of the public are being asked to keep their eyes open for rare reptiles as part of a project to help identify where the animals still exist in the Lothians and elsewhere in Scotland.
And it is hoped that the programme will help conservation groups to restore reptile populations.
Reptiles are still known to be present in Scotland, although threats such as land development have damaged their numbers.
Common use of pesticides is also a contributing factor to the animals' decline.
The zoo is now providing its visitors with a guide to identifying the different snakes and lizards found in Scotland.
And anyone who spots them, anywhere in Scotland, is being asked to contact the zoo to let them know where they were found.
There are three species of reptile found wild in Scotland - the adder, the common lizard and the slowworm.
The project is being run by Edinburgh Zoo and the Lothians Amphibian and Reptile Group (LARG).
Charles Montgomery, of LARG, said: "We are aware of a number of important sites for reptiles in the Lothians but there must be many more locations, no matter how small, where Scotland's three reptile species can be found. This survey will help us to build up a much more detailed picture of their distribution from urban to upland habitats whether they are encountered while gardening or simply walking in the countryside."
The adder is a small, marked snake, with the male typically silvery grey with a black zig-zag stripe running down its back, while females are reddish brown with a less distinct mark. The snakes are venomous and so should be treated with care, but they are not deadly.
The Scottish adder, our only native snake, is a timid and non-aggressive animal, although it will bite if severely provoked.
It feeds on small mammals and lizards and generally avoids the presence of humans. The animals were once common in the Pentland Hills but have not been seen there for many years.
The common lizard was once found within Edinburgh at sites such as the Salisbury Crags, Blackford Hill and even the Botanic Garden, but they have not been reported there for many years.
Still known to be present in the Pentlands, the lizard can make its home in many environments, such as grasslands, coastal dunes, railway embankments, quarries and woodland edges.
It feeds on insects and other invertebrates and is generally brown, grey or greenish and covered in dark spots and stripes.
Scotland's other reptile is the slowworm, a lizard which evolved to live without legs and which now typically lives buried in soil or hiding under logs and stones, making it very difficult to detect.
Generally copper or grey in colour, the slowworm commonly feeds on slugs and snails and is known as the gardener's friend.
Known to live in many sites across the Lothians, the Edinburgh populations are thought to have died out, although the zoo is hoping the survey will provide evidence to the contrary. Rob Thomas, conservation and research manager and Edinburgh Zoo said:
"We hope through this reptile survey we gain a better idea of where reptiles are still to be found in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas."
Zoo keen to find out the scale of reptile numbers