Current Programs
Ensure viable European Ground Squirrel populations in Pannonian region CitellusLIFE- 101202727
The implementation period of the project: 1 December 2025 – 1 March 2033 (87 months)
Project budget: €9,791,425 (of which HNPI: €1,343,111)
European Union funding: €7,343,568 (of which HNPI: €1,007,333)
Despite previous conservation efforts, the ground squirrel population in the Pannon region, considered one of the global genetic centers for the species, is declining drastically at the regional level. Existing colonies are fragmenting, and previously connected habitats are increasingly breaking apart due to the loss of natural corridors, becoming isolated like islands.
The main goal of the project is to ensure the survival of the three genetically distinct lines identified within the Pannon region ground squirrel population. This will be achieved by establishing a “conservation safety network” through coordinated local efforts, which serves as a key guarantee not only for the viability of the regional population but also for the global survival of the species.
In the program, specialists from the Budapest Zoo participate in ground squirrel breeding and veterinary supervision, while the Foundation for the Budapest Zoo coordinates awareness-raising and communication activities. Our aim is to contribute to the long-term conservation of the species and to strengthen its social acceptance through our professional work and educational activities.
The main activities planned by the consortium partners in the project are:
- Developing a “conservation safety net” system for ground squirrel populations, creating and filling in the colony-specific “registers” that form its basis, establishing a coordinating strategy to ensure survival, and beginning implementation.
- Based on the results of genetic and breeding technology studies from the RAPTORSPREY LIFE project, establishing and developing two additional Hungarian ex situ ground squirrel breeding centers (in the Danube–Tisza region and the Great Plain), and releasing the bred squirrels into suitable locations.
- Creating in situ, but controlled (semi-wild), populations protected from adverse external effects (“Citellus gardens”), developing them, and regularly relocating offspring that cannot spread due to limited area and isolation to suitable habitats.
- Identifying remaining metapopulation structures, transferring lessons learned as best practices to other suitable areas to restore ecological connections, and using this knowledge in planning and implementing management and habitat maintenance interventions.
- Habitat restoration interventions (shrubs removal, establishing grazing infrastructure, renovating herd wells, controlled predator reduction, etc.) to preserve ground squirrel habitats, increase population numbers, and, where possible, connect them with ecological corridors. Strengthening positive effects on other key species (vascular plants, invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, predatory and ground-nesting birds, etc.) and eliminating potential negative effects, while defining prioritization principles.
- Comprehensive assessment of colony health using multi-criteria, generalizable, and repeatable methods. The assessment includes identifying and mapping threats to squirrels and colonies, developing methods for optimal management, mitigating risks, monitoring negative effects, and demonstrating these actions in pilot projects.
- Communication and awareness campaigns to increase local, regional, and international social acceptance of the ground squirrel, e.g., through films, educational games, books and small publications, other demonstration materials, scientific, popular science, and sensitization events.
- Developing the “tourism marketing and attraction” of the ground squirrel with the involvement of tourism organizations as partners, and showcasing selected populations in situ in habitats that are not sensitive to disturbance, under regulated conditions.
- Knowledge-based foundation and follow-up monitoring of interventions, as well as developing and documenting related methodologies. Special attention will be given to zoonotic pathogens and preventive measures during veterinary activities.
Beneficiaries:
Main beneficiary:
Herman Ottó Institute Nonprofit Ltd. (HU)
Partner organizations:
Foundation for the Budapest Zoo (HU)
Budakeszi Wildlife Park (HU)
Bükk Mammal Research Group Association (HU)
Bükk National Park Directorate (HU)
University of Debrecen (associated beneficiary) (HU)
Kiskunság National Park Directorate (HU)
HUN-REN Ecological Research Centre (CER) (HU)
Fertő-Hanság National Park Directorate (associated beneficiary) (HU)
Hortobágy National Park Directorate (HU)
MILVUS Conservation Association (RO)
Hungarian Meadow Viper Conservation Program
We are proud to be partners and participants in one of Europe’s most successful LIFE-supported conservation programs, the Hungarian Meadow Viper LIFE program, coordinated by the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society.
The Hungarian meadow viper, a small snake growing no larger than 50-60 cm, has been protected in Hungary since 1974, has been strictly protected since 1988, and since 1992 has belonged to the highest category of conservation concern, with a conservation value of HUF 1,000,000. The species is listed under Natura 2000, and as a result, all its habitats have been included in the Natura 2000 Network. In these areas, land management must be subordinated to the habitat needs of the Hungarian meadow viper.
In Hungary, its populations have survived in only two areas, the Hanság and the Kiskunság, while it has become extinct in all other locations and has dwindled even in the remaining habitats. The primary cause of its rapid population decline is habitat loss, but these vipers were also depleted due to commercial collection and intentional killing. Although this tiny snake’s venom is not strong, it is used to paralyze grasshoppers, crickets, bird hatchlings, and young rodents. No fatal bite in humans has ever been recorded.
Within the LIFE program, grasslands serving as the viper’s habitat have been restored in several locations. In 2004, the Hungarian Meadow Viper Conservation Centre was established in the Kiskunság National Park in Kunpeszér, with the primary goal of housing and breeding animals from endangered habitats. The individuals born here are released into the wild every year.
Over the more than 20 years of the program, a total of 592 Hungarian meadow vipers have been returned to their natural habitat and have taken their place in the local ecosystem.
Thanks to habitat protection, habitat restoration, and reintroductions, the Hungarian population is estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000 individuals.
In the currently ongoing LIFE HUNVIPHAB program, the veterinary supervision of the Conservation Centre is provided by our veterinarians, and we also breed crickets and mice for feeding the viper population. Over the past two decades, our veterinarians have surgically implanted radio telemetry transmitters into the body cavities of more than 100 individuals, significantly increasing our knowledge of this species’ habitat use and lifestyle. Two of our experts are also members of the Hungarian Meadow Viper Conservation Council.
In 2001, we organized a conference to develop the species protection program, clarify the necessary conservation issues, and, with the participation of renowned international and Hungarian experts, we published a professional book dealing with the situation of the Hungarian meadow viper.
On 5 October 2009, we hosted the first Hungarian Meadow Viper Day, which has since been followed by several others.
In 2024, we invited researchers and veterinarians involved with the viper to several important professional events, engaging both domestic and international experts as part of the LIFE project. In addition to local experts, participants could listen to presentations by colleagues from the USA, Italy, Germany, France, and Romania.
Visitors to the Zoo can view the Hungarian meadow viper in the Venom House.
For more information please visit: www.rakosivipera.hu
GRASSLAND-HU LIFE Integrated Project — Long-Term Conservation of Pannonian Grasslands and Related Habitats Through the Implementation of Strategic Measures From the National Natura 2000 Prioritized Action Framework
The project, which began in 2019, aims to improve and ensure the long-term conservation status of grassland habitats and the species associated with them. This will be achieved through various activities, including the following.
The Hungarian Natural History Museum, a collaborating partner in the project, invited the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden to participate in the study of the breeding biology and husbandry conditions of the Hungarian birch mouse.
The work began in 2021, and one of the first female mice from a wild capture gave birth to five healthy offspring and successfully raised them, a first in zoo conditions. We also plan to use radio telemetry transmitters for this species to uncover its previously unknown habitat use. So far, three transmitters have been implanted into the abdominal cavities of juvenile house mice, used as a model species, demonstrating that this technique will be applicable to the birch mouse in the future as well.
For more information please visit: www.grasslandlifeip.hu
