Paradoxical Exception to Island Tameness: Increased Defensiveness in an Insular Population of Rattlesnakes
William K. Hayes,
Carl E. Person,
Gerad A. Fox
et al.
Abstract:Island tameness results largely from a lack of natural predators. Because some insular rattlesnake populations lack functional rattles, presumably the consequence of relaxed selection from reduced predation, we hypothesized that on Santa Catalina Island, California, USA, populations of the southern Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus helleri), which possesses functional rattles, would exhibit a decrement in defensive behavior relative to their mainland counterparts. Contrary to our prediction, rattlesnakes from the … Show more
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