They are known as gimmicks from the “Yps” children’s magazines of the 1970s and from experiment kits: million-year-old prehistoric crabs. But the animals from the time of the dinosaurs are rare in nature. They occur in the Döberitzer Heide in the Havelland southwest of Berlin – in ponds and puddles on the former military training area. The use of a civilian tank should now help to protect two critically endangered species of prehistoric cancer there.
The heavy vehicle rolls several times in a row on the former military training area along previous routes on which the biotopes for the animals could develop. The ground is compacted again by the tank trips so that water can collect in hollows and the puddles necessary for the survival of the prehistoric crabs form in the spring, as the Heinz Sielmann Foundation, the owner of the former military training area, describes.
Prehistoric crabs discovered at the end of the 80s
According to the foundation, the tank fairways are home to the two prehistoric crustaceans Triops cancriformis and Branchipus schaefferi. They were discovered there at the end of the 80s, said the expert at the Heinz Sielmann Foundation, Jörg Fürstenow. One Triops cancriformis can reach a size of more than ten centimeters, the other species is around 4 to 5 centimeters tall. Along the routes along hiking trails, walkers in the Döberitzer Heide also have a good chance of seeing such prehistoric crabs in summer, said Fürstenow.
The former military training area in the Döberitzer Heide has a long military history. After the fall of the Wall, the large area became a nature reserve. “Fires, explosions and tracked vehicles left behind large open landscapes that are ecologically very valuable,” said the Heinz Sielmann Foundation, which acquired the area in 2004. In addition to the prehistoric crayfish, many protected animal species live there, including sea eagles, fire-bellied toads, wild bees and hoopoes. Bison, Przewalski’s horses and red deer have also been reintroduced there.
