Catastrophic impact of wild boars: insufficient hunting pressure pushes snakes to the brink

Climatic changes, habitat loss and invasive species are important threats for many animal populations. Here, we report rapid declines and extinctions of adder populations monitored during 12 years in Belgium where none of the above causes was involved. This study provides the first large‐scale data showing that wild boars represent a major risk for snakes, pushing populations to extinction. Drastic population declines were observed in the sites...