Seasonal biotic and abiotic factors affecting hunting strategy in free-living Saharan sand vipers, Cerastes vipera

Horesh, Sefi J.A.; Sivan, Jaim; Rosenstrauch, Avi; Tesler, Itay; Degen, A. Allan; Kam, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2016.11.013

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Although the rodents' predators, such as barn owls, vipers and red foxes, affect their foraging behaviour [31,32], such and other similar predators have been less frequently studied. An exception is the sand viper, Cerastes vipera: many aspects of its foraging behaviour, such as hunting method, foraging mode and inter-sexual behavioural differences, are known [33][34][35][36]. That said, we know almost nothing about another common viper in the Sahara Desert in general and the western Negev in particular-the desert horned viper (Cerastes cerastes).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging behaviour, habitat use and population size of the desert horned viper in the Negev desert

et al. 2022

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The desert horned viper occurs in the dunes of the northwestern Negev desert, Israel. We report on a 2 year study on the viper's behaviour and ecology in its natural habitat. We examined whether the vipers moved faster in a vegetation-dense microhabitat versus an open dune area and detected much slower movement in the former. We nevertheless detected no preference of the vipers for any of the dune areas. We suggest that the vipers trade-off the ease of movement on open areas with prey, which is probably more available in areas with denser vegetation. The activity was higher early in the season and the vipers were mostly active right after sunset, with a second smaller activity peak at sunrise, perhaps searching for burrows to spend the day. Fitting this explanation, movement at the track's end was less directional than at its beginning. We found inter-sexual and between-year differences. For example, females were larger than males in the second year of the study but not in the first one and the population seemed to be smaller in the second year of the study than in its first year. The information we provide on this viper may assist its conservation, as sand dunes are threatened habitats in Israel.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging behaviour, habitat use and population size of the desert horned viper in the Negev desert

et al. 2022

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“…Few studies analyze behavior in the wild of non-vipers. Only a handful of studies on foraging in vipers describe the ambush sites; however, they are typically listed as under a bush, in thick or thin vegetation, or partial burial ( Barbour and Clark, 2012 ; Clark et al, 2016 ; Horesh et al, 2017 ). Even fewer studies analyze foraging behavior in non-vipers, none of which offer a detailed description of the ambush sites.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blood python (Python brongersmai) strike kinematics and forces are robust to variations in substrate geometry

Jurestovsky

Joy

Astley

2023

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Snake strikes are some of the most rapid accelerations in terrestrial vertebrates. Generating rapid body accelerations requires high ground reaction forces, but on flat surfaces snakes must rely on static friction to prevent slip. We hypothesize that snakes may be able to take advantage of structures in the environment to prevent their body from slipping, potentially allowing them to generate faster and more forceful strikes. To test this hypothesis, we captured high-speed video and forces from defensive strikes of juvenile blood pythons (Python brongersmai) on a platform that was either open on all sides or with two adjacent walls opposite the direction of the strike. Contrary to our predictions, snakes maintained high performance on open platforms by imparting rearward momentum to the posterior body and tail. This compensatory behavior increases robustness to changes in their strike conditions and could allow them to exploit variable environments.

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“…life stage, body condition, prey presence, etc. ; Horesh et al, 2017; Kotler et al, 1992) and abiotic factors (e.g. moonlight, temperature, rainfall, etc.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arboreal aperitifs: Space use and activity of a major songbird nest predator in a tropical Thailand forest

D'souza¹,

Marshall²,

Strine³

2021

Preprint

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Predator-prey interactions are fundamental drivers of population dynamics, yet rarely are both predator and prey species simultaneously studied. Despite being significant, widespread avian nest predators, research on the ecology of Southeast Asian snakes in relation to birds remains scarce. The green cat snake (Boiga cyanea) is a primary nest predator, responsible for ≈24% of forest songbird depredation in Northeast Thailand. We explored both diurnal and nocturnal movements of 14 (5 male, 9 female) adult B. cyanea with radio-telemetry for an average of 68 ± 16 days per individual, between 21 October 2017 and 8 June 2019 in the dry evergreen forest of the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve (SBR). We quantified area of space use (ha) and activity through motion variance (σm2) during the study period using dynamic Brownian bridge movement models, and linked our findings to a simultaneously-run avian nest monitoring study, initiated in 2013 within the same forest fragment. On average, movements, space use and activity differed between males and females, and between the avian nesting and non-nesting seasons. Males moved 51.37 m/day farther than females. They used areas 15.09 ha larger than females, and their activity was 3.91 σm2 higher than that of females. In general, individuals moved 50.30 m/day farther during the nesting season than the non-nesting season. The snakes used areas 9.84 ha larger during the nesting season than the non-nesting season, and their activity during the nesting season was 3.24 σm2 higher than that during the non-nesting season. All individuals were exclusively nocturnal, moving throughout the night, and often descending from higher diurnal refugia (>2 m) to forage closer to the ground after sunset. Boiga cyanea activity followed a similar trend to that of the recorded nest depredations at SBR. Our study links snake activity to nest depredations in SBR. Our openly-available data may yield further insight when combined with other major avian nest predator species like the congeneric invasive brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) on the island of Guam.

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Seasonal biotic and abiotic factors affecting hunting strategy in free-living Saharan sand vipers, Cerastes vipera

Cited by 12 publications

References 30 publications

Foraging behaviour, habitat use and population size of the desert horned viper in the Negev desert

Foraging behaviour, habitat use and population size of the desert horned viper in the Negev desert

Blood python (Python brongersmai) strike kinematics and forces are robust to variations in substrate geometry

Arboreal aperitifs: Space use and activity of a major songbird nest predator in a tropical Thailand forest

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