France: heroic hamsters help biodiversity

The Alsatian hamster's been called in to help the environment around a new motorway close to Strasbourg in France.

Built by Vinci Autoroutes, the 24 kilometre section of motorway was constructed following over 40 years of controversy and local opposition. However, a law introduced in France in 2016 has given the company a legal obligation to compensate for the loss of biodiversity.

The Alsatian or European hamster's seen as an umbrella species. This makes it an indicator of how viable the environment is for other species.

PhD student Timothée Gérard studies hamsters at the National Scientific Research Centre.

Timothée Gérard: "We know that if the hamster can reproduce, it will positively impact the insect community, the annelids community, the earthworms. These species also help crops. We expect that where the hamster is doing well, we'll see the crops benefit, with less need for fertilisers, pesticides, etc. and more viable ecosystems for birds, for micromammals, for insects."

While trapped and hunted as a pest, Alsatian hamster populations plummeted and it became a protected species. Although risk of extinction saw it added to the red list in 2020, Vinci Autoroutes' environmental manager Arnaud Guillemin hopes to reverse this.

Arnaud Guillemin: "As it's a protected species, we have very low populations. The idea of our operation is that the hamsters which we release reproduce - to recreate a new generation and increase the local population."

The new motorway's ploughed its course through fields of wheat, the principal diet for the hamster, which deemed it an appropriate mammal to reintroduce to the area.

The release programme's been carefully coordinated to ensure the best chance of success. Celia Schappler, head of hamster breeding for Sauvegarde Faune Sauvage, explains.

Celia Schappler: "We will release them in lines, alternating between male and female. We prepare which hamster will go into which burrow, to avoid inbreeding. We never release two hamsters from the same litter on the same plot."

If successful, both the environment and the endangered hamster stand to benefit.

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