Endangered Perspective: Reptiles in ribbons

It’s thought that 5,000 years ago, in a Canada considerably warmer than the one we inhabit today, ribbon snakes could be found in abundance across our delightfully diverse nation. But as the climate cooled and our environment reorganized itself, these snakes began to lose ground. Suitable habitat within our borders shrank and shrank until finally there were only two populations left – one spanning the Great Lakes region of southern Ontario and another, much smaller, confined to a pocket of watersheds in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The ribbon snake is a harmless creature, known by the three yellow lines running down the length of its scaly back. The positioning of these lines is the easiest way to tell them apart from their near cousin, the garter snake, which sports lines of its own in slightly different positions. Their skin is dark otherwise and they measure between 46-86 cm long, the females being slightly larger than males.

The ribbon snakes of Nova Scotia are perfectly isolated from the rest of their species, occupying the far flung regions of Mersey, Medway and Pleasant rivers. On the edges of the shallow ponds, streams, marshes, swamps and bogs which make up these watersheds is where they’re often found between May and September. At these times they’re described as very active but also very docile, making a living off frogs and other amphibians unfortunate enough to find themselves on the menu.

These reptiles hibernate through winter, spending October through April in whatever crevice or abandoned burrow they can make their own. Only recently have we made progress in discovering their wintering grounds, previously a mystery. Two have been identified to my knowledge and it’s safe to say there are considerably more hiding out there, waiting for a keen eye to fall upon them.

And herein lies the struggle of the ribbon snake – they are very difficult to spot, which makes them very difficult to study. Progress had been made with the help of sniffer dogs, radio transmitters and the diligent work of researchers and volunteers, particularly those with the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, but relatively little is known about these snakes…not their present population trends in Nova Scotia or how we might be doing them harm. They’re listed federally and provincially as a threatened population, but truth be told we don’t know the full extent of their vulnerability.

It’s estimated there are between 1,000-3,000 ribbon snakes in Nova Scotia, but this estimate comes from 1998. It’s strongly suspected their numbers are on the decline regardless. So of all the threats we present to this species, be it habitat loss to shoreline development, changes in watercourses from dam construction or removal, road mortality or pet trapping, the greatest threat of all is our ignorance of their needs.

There are a good many questions in need of answering before meaningful action can be taken on behalf of these snakes. I applaud those people willing to pursue these shy reptiles with hopes of better understanding and preserving them. If the habitat essential to the survival of this population can be identified and protected, then perhaps this unique colony can persevere for 5,000 years more.

Zack Metcalfe is a freelance environmental journalist, an author, and writer of the Endangered Perspective. He operates out of Halifax, Nova Scotia.