Information boards
2013 December 11
The information boards of the project can be found in the project areas:
Habitat restoration
Habitats of the European pond turtles and rare amphibians are being restored in the Southern Lithuania at full speed. These species are endangered because of the lack of suitable habitats – small, clean, predator free, sun heated water bodies with shallow slopes. Such water bodies became overgrown with shrubs or disappeared because of the succession. Therefore they are being restored by the project team. Near the water bodies sandy, sun heated slopes are being cleaned to make them more suitable for the egg laying of the pond turtles. From roots, soil and wood amphibian hibernation places are created in the places where the water rising in spring would not flood. A video about restoration can be watched here.
The first underpass for amphibians was set up in Lithuania
For the last several years, trying to avoid mass killing of amphibians on a road, ecologist from Veisiejai Regional Park Irma Maciulevičienė used to carry amphibians during the spring migrations. A system of temporary fences and dug in land buckets was built along a busy regional road Veisiejai – Lazdijai which fragments amphibian habitat leaving Šlavantas lake on one side and swampy wetlands on the other. Thousands of amphibians were trapped in the buckets while trying to cross the road. Some of them were still managing to climb the temporary fences and were squashed on the road. To prevent amphibian road kills, the first underpass devoted for this group of animals was built in Lithuania. The pictures of the underpass can be found here.
Rearing of the European tree frogs
A couple of decades ago a European tree frog was discovered by the scientists for the first time in Lithuania. It is believed that the tree frogs lived in Lithuania in earlier times, were extinct and nowadays are returning. Now the tree frogs live in a rather small area in the southern Lithuania and slowly spread to the north. To improve their living conditions their habitats are being restored in the framework of the project. Moreover, the tree frogs are reared from the eggs to froglets to protect the most vulnerable life stages from the predators and enhance their survival rate. Currently the froglets are being released back to their habitats. The video material about the rearing can be watched here.
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- 100 young turtles were saved
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- Turtle offspring in Kaunas Zoo during the summer
- The students helped to restore the habitats of European pond turtle
- European Bombina song contest
- The habitats for the European pond turtles are being restored