Snake found next to Second Circular in Lisbon

The snake was seen on Monday morning near the Second Circular in Lisbon.

This is a harmless species, very common in the capital.

“This is a harmless horseshoe snake, whose scientific name is Hippocratic hemorrhoids. This species is quite common in the city of Lisbon. It feeds mainly on rodents and insects. In cities, they can find this food in green spaces, backyards, abandoned buildings and other tighter spaces (including under rubble),” he explained to reporters. CM Diogo Oliveira, naturalist biologist and photographer.

“They have an active hunt, that is, they do not wait for prey to approach them, but actively search for it in the hunting territory. For this reason, snakes move around a lot and find themselves in places that are not at the mercy of other dangers such as cars, bicycles, scooters, etc. Being reptiles, they cannot regulate their temperature, and therefore, on these hottest days, they prefer to hide in the hottest hours are usually underground where the temperature is constant (around 18ºC) and they end up hunting only at night. At night they use the roads to keep warm, the resin absorbs a lot of heat and dissipates at night. This allows the snakes to hunt longer, saving some energy in the process,” he said.

Snakes play an important role in the natural control of the rat population and therefore play an important role in urban ecosystems. According to Diogo Oliveira, “we should not use poison to control rodents, because indirectly we are eliminating their natural predators, which play this role for free, we must help the predators to establish themselves.”