The European Union It has a record of protected species within its limits. Now a study has been conducted by Spanish professionals They discovered indigenous copies that had disappeared centuries ago and were classified in that document: beavers on the tajo river, A historical finding.
Biologists, specialized in vertebrates and environmental technicians, have published this impressive event in one scientific article Placed in official magazine from the Spanish society for the preservation and study of mammals (second)” Gallemunder the title «A beaver on the Tajo River: a new city in Spain ».
Biologists have found three population groups in The AlcarriaAlthough they do not know the exact number of copies. They believe that they have been re -introduced from other rivers, such as Ebro, Guadalquivir or Duero.
Researchers Marco Ansón and Celia García Prendes They found Castor copies for the first time on the Tajjo rivera native species, but Disappeared for centuries and currently mentioned under the species protected by the European Union.
This has been stated by publishing a scientific article in ‘Galemys. Spanish Journal of Mammalogy‘, The official magazine of the Spanish society for the preservation and study of mammals (second)under the title ‘A beaver on the Tajo River’ After finding specimens of this species in the tagus last June.
We did fieldwork, research into Martín Pescador in the Tajo RiverAnd I saw a beaver crossing the river and currently identified it. I was aware that it was Castor’s first registration in that pelvis because To date, Beavers had detected in the pelvis of Ebro, Duero and Guadalquivir, but not in the Tajjo River“Said Marco Ansón, Palzoologist specialized in vertebrates and environmental technician, as well as his partner, Celia García.
After that first perception, in the La Alcarria region, they started a study of this animal in the Tajjo Basin as members of the Center for Animal Studies, a group of professionals in Zolaogie who develop independent research and distribution.
Three population groups of Castores
They have found three population groups, although they do not know the exact number: «Castors are monogamos animals. They form biparental pairs. The children stay in the family core until they are old ». What they do know is “that there are several because we see differences from sizes on an individual level.”
For the size of the species and for the evidence that is found by residents of the area they spoken, They believe they can live in the area for three years.
Despite the fact There are indications of their existence in Roman and Visigotic times, And it is known that the indigenous species was possibly extinguished by human consumption. “It was part of the Iberian river ecosystems. In the rest of Europe, a decline of the very large species arises and regression suffers in the last three or four centuries and starts recovering in the Middenweentieth centuries for measures to preserve his preservation, “the researcher said.
Wild reintroduction in the Ebro
The reintroduction in Spain was dated in 2003 in the Ebro pelvis, but in an “uncontrolled and without permission”But because someone decided to take copies from Central Europe, possibly Germany, and bring them to Spain and re -introduce them “without permission or preservation plan”, something that this researcher emphasizes that it is dangerous because “we don’t know or that copies were healthy or can transfer a disease. “
In this respect he specified that The Beaver is an animal made to live in these aquatic environments And who stated it perfectly that it was a perfect place to live. And certainly the animals they took were wild, “he said.
By its nature, “It is a species that brings biodiversity to the habitat in which it is, dynamization and interaction between different species and in that sense it is not problematic“So it can succeed based on In the Ebro it has colonized other rivers and tributaries from the reintroduction.
«It is no species that believes problems if it is not pursued, and if so, it will have the chance to be colonized again. The Ebro started to expand it because someone decided to take them from there and transfer them to other rivers such as the Guadalquivir, El Duero and now the Tagus. They have not only arrived in these basins, “said this specialist, who is considering that The existence of this animal can be positive for the river ecosystem, demolished by the introduction of invasive exotic species such as American Crab or Telro.