Interactions between reptiles and people: a perspective from wildlife rehabilitation records

Teagan Pyne, Ron Haering, Aditi Sriram, Shona Lorigan, Richard Shine, Chris J. Jolly*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

As urbanization expands globally, human-wildlife interactions will inevitably increase. Here, we analysed 10 years of wildlife rehabilitation records of squamate (snake and lizard) reptiles (n = 37 075) from the Greater Sydney region, New South Wales, Australia, to explore their value to address management and conservation issues. Rescues were highly non-random regarding taxonomic focus, spatial occurrences and temporal trends due to the combined influence of (i) reptile phenology and behaviour and (ii) human perceptions of reptiles. Seasonal peaks in rescues reflect reptile and, to a lesser extent, human activity. Spatial patterns of rescues were informative about distributions and presence of easily identified taxa but were primarily driven by human presence. Larger squamate species were rescued more frequently, potentially reflecting a perception of greater danger or rescue priority. While uncommon species were often misidentified, accurate reports of these taxa may guide targeted surveys. The value of these data for conservation and management could be enhanced by emphasizing reptile identification training of volunteers and use of applications for informed species identification. Wildlife rehabilitation data offer a cost-effective means of quantifying thousands of human-reptile interactions, identifying foci (in both time and space) of human-wildlife conflict such as snakebite risk and roadkill-related reptile mortality.

Original languageEnglish
Article number240512
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalRoyal Society Open Science
Volume11
Issue number10
Early online date2 Oct 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2024. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • conservation
  • lizard
  • Reptilia
  • rescue
  • snake
  • Squamata

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