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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Sam Jones in Madrid

‘This is a tragedy’: swimming snakes open new front in battle with Balearic lizards

A horseshoe whip snake swims at the surface of clear turquoise water near a rocky outcrop
The horseshoe whip snake (Hemorrhois hippocrepis) first appeared on Ibiza two decades ago. Photograph: Rubén Casas

Irrefutable proof of what Spanish researchers and wildlife experts had long suspected, and long feared, finally presented itself in the form of a grainy video that was shot on a minuscule island in the Balearics in April 2024.

Ribboning its way through the turquoise waters that separate the east coast of Ibiza from the islet of Santa Eulària 450 metres away, came a pale and solitary horseshoe whip snake in search of new territory and fresh sustenance.

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