{"id":2862,"date":"2024-08-05T17:21:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T14:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uanimals.org\/media\/?p=2862"},"modified":"2025-07-04T16:14:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T13:14:45","slug":"the-desman-a-hidden-treasure-of-the-river-seym-a-fading-article-about-a-fading-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uanimals.org\/media\/en\/statti-en\/the-desman-a-hidden-treasure-of-the-river-seym-a-fading-article-about-a-fading-species\/","title":{"rendered":"The Desman \u2014 A Hidden Treasure of the River Seym: A Fading Article About a Fading Species"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\u201cIt was the end of the day, the sun was setting. Luckily, we were rowing: leisurely paddling along. Suddenly, we saw it sitting there! It was gnawing on something on the water lilies. It noticed us, too \u2014 the contact lasted about 5 seconds. Then it immediately dived and hid under the lilies.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Zoologist Oleksandr Yemets, a researcher at the Seymskiy Regional Landscape Park, has been studying the desman for many years. He has seen it in the wild only once in his life, and he says he was incredibly lucky.<\/span><\/p>\n

The animal is so rare that all possible conservation documents protect it. In the Red Data Book, it has the status of a relict species at risk of extinction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, the desman is very cautious. Upon sensing an intruder, it will dive to the bottom, sealing its snout with special valves. Then, it might even relocate from the area where it was disturbed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is that in modern conditions, the desman is disturbed everywhere \u2014 and in Ukraine, it is almost extinct. The only population of desmans remains in the The Seym is the largest tributary of the Desna. In Ukraine, the river flows in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions.<\/span>Seym<\/span><\/span> and its two tributaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, this area has become a battleground: explosions can constantly be heard in the once-quiet backwaters. So, does the desman still live near the Seym, and what do we know about it? We discuss this as part of the #StopEcocideUkraine project.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The Russian Desman \u2014 The Oldest Representative of Modern European Fauna<\/b><\/h2>\n

The desman is a small mammal that spends much time in the water. Its lifestyle is similar to that of a muskrat, but by origin, the animals are not closely related. The desman is related to the mole. In the Talpidae family, which includes moles, there is a genus called <\/span>Desmana<\/span><\/i>. A single species of this genus still survives, the Russian desman, scientific name <\/span>Desmana moschata<\/span><\/i>. Once, there were many species of desmans, but we know this only from fossil remains.<\/span><\/p>\n

The oldest remains of these animals, found in Europe, date back to the Miocene. This was an epoch in Earth\u2019s history that began about 23 million years ago and ended about 5 million years ago. The animal world was quite different then. The desman lived alongside the ancestors of horses, rhinos, and immense mastodons. Humans as a species did not yet exist!<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Therefore, the desman is a relict animal that has survived into modern fauna from pre-human epochs and is not well adapted to current conditions. It evolved into its present form 20 million years ago and has not changed since. Why change anything?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just <\/span>perfect<\/span><\/a>! Its four-sided snout is equipped with skin valves to prevent water from entering when it dives. It can comfortably stay underwater for four minutes. The snout is also convenient for digging in the mud at the bottom in search of food.<\/span><\/p>\n

The desman\u2019s eyesight is weak but quite sufficient for its lifestyle. It swims in dark thickets and is active at night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Its body is small, about 20 centimeters (~8 inches) long, with a similarly long tail covered in scales. At the base, it is round, but towards the end, it becomes flat like a boat keel, which is useful for swimming. The desman has developed webbing between its toes for better swimming. There are also fringes of fur along the edges of its paws that increase the surface area for paddling.<\/span><\/p>\n

The desman\u2019s toes on its hind legs are arranged quite differently from other mammals, being column-like \u2014 one above the other. This is not very convenient for crawling but excellent for paddling. Its fur is thick and silky, allowing it to stay relatively dry and creating an air cushion around it. Is this not perfect for aquatic life?<\/span><\/p>\n

The desman favors An oxbow lake forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off.<\/span>oxbow lakes<\/span><\/span>, floodplain lakes, and even settles in river channels. The entrance to its burrow is underwater, but the burrow itself extends into the bank, rising above the water level. A desman family can dig tunnels up to 20 meters long, sometimes on multiple levels, in case the lower floors flood. The burrow is lined with plant matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

The desman is not picky in terms of food: its diet includes both plants and animals. This includes mollusks, cattails, water lilies, insect larvae, leeches, and in winter, fish. During Soviet times, when desmans were kept in artificial conditions, they even agreed to eat cabbage and potatoes.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

A Fragrant Animal<\/b><\/h2>\n

The largest populations of desman live on russian territory in the basins of the Volga, Don, and Ural rivers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The English name \u2014 Russian desman \u2014 reflects this fact.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, the name of this mammal, used in the Ukrainian scientific community, is not \u201cRussian\u201d but \u201cthat of Rus.\u201d This name refers to the medieval Eastern Slavic state Kyivan Rus, which existed on the territory of modern Ukraine, Belarus, and partly russia. Throughout the centuries, variations of its name have been used by those claiming the inheritance of Kyivan Rus. Finally, in the 18<\/span>th<\/span> century, russia formally adopted this name. Both adjectives\u2014which refer to the old Slavic state and to the modern country\u2014are often mixed up in russian and even English.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ironically, while called “Russian” in English, it is precisely the russians who are currently pushing desmans closer to extinction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Latin, however, scent played a significant role. The genus name <\/span>Desmana<\/span><\/i><\/a> was adopted, meaning \u201cmusk.\u201d The species name <\/span>moschata <\/span><\/i>also means \u201cwith a musky smell.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, the desman truly has a scent. Its glands secrete musk, which serves as a chemical signal to attract the opposite sex and lubricate its fur. This substance, whether of animal origin or synthetic, is used in perfumery, as musk is believed to induce arousal.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the desman itself is quite reserved in this regard \u2014 during the breeding season, it is monogamous! It creates a family and dwells only with its partner.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The Last Sighting of the Desman<\/b><\/h2>\n

In 2009 researchers estimated that about 300\u2013500 desmans remained near the Seym and its tributaries. However, these figures are just an estimate: no thorough studies of the Seym\u2019s desman population have been <\/span>conducted<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from Ukraine, there are small populations of Russian desmans in russia and western Kazakhstan. Although the desman once lived in the rivers of Western Europe, it is no longer found there. What led to its extinction there?<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunting, among other factors, played a role. Recorded figures on desman hunting in russia show that 100,000 <\/span>skins<\/span><\/a> were sold annually before World War I.<\/span><\/p>\n

The desman began to die out. During Soviet times, efforts were made to restore the population: The animal was caught and kept in <\/span>artificial conditions<\/span><\/a>, and various rafts made of brushwood and floating nest boxes from logs were even made for them. Then, they were released into rivers. From 1929 to 1940, desmans were also <\/span>released<\/span><\/a> in Ukraine, but they did not take root anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Ukraine, the desman lived in the Dnipro River but went <\/span>extinct<\/span><\/a> in the 1930s.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also lived in the Siverskyi Donets and its tributaries. The rare animal had a protected status as far back as 1928: in the Luhansk region, a \u201c<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201c<\/span>desman farm<\/span><\/a>\u201d called Kreminne was established in the floodplain lakes of the Krasna River. In modern terms, this was a nature reserve. Initially, the population increased, then fell back to its original numbers. The reserve was abolished in 1954 and turned into hunting grounds. Since then, desmans have occasionally been spotted in the Donets but gradually disappeared. It is believed that by the 1970s, the species was completely <\/span>extinct<\/span><\/a> in this river.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, around the time when the desman nearly disappeared in the Donets, it appeared in the Seym. This was an artificially introduced population that, surprisingly, settled in well. The desman was <\/span>released<\/span><\/a> in the Kursk region in 1961 and found the Seym to its liking. The river originates in russia, flows through Ukraine, and empties into the Desna. The desman gradually spread downstream, inhabiting the Ukrainian part of the Seym in the Sumy region. The areas where the desman can live are now part of the Serednioseymskiy Reserve and Seymskiy Regional Landscape Park.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe information we have about the Seym comes from recorded catches: people simply report that this animal was seen. There are photographs of desmans in the Seym tributary, the Vyr River \u2014 there was definitely a small population there,\u201d says researcher Oleksandr Yemets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oleksandr himself encountered a desman in the Kleven River. This happened near the village of Lytvynovychi in the Konotop district on August 6, 2018. The zoologists were not expecting a desman at the time; they were out for a bird survey.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems this was the last recorded instance of a desman sighting in Ukraine.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Why There Are So Few Desmans<\/b><\/h2>\n

The animal is extremely particular about its living conditions. As soon as something doesn\u2019t suit it, it leaves. If only it had somewhere to go\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Both natural and human factors threaten the desman. It is uncertain whether the animal will survive the new challenge \u2014 hostilities. So, what is endangering the desman?<\/span><\/p>\n