Strike kinematics and performance in juvenile ball pythons (<i>Python regius</i>)

Ryerson, William G; Tan, Weimin

doi:10.1002/jez.2131

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…All individuals of P. obsoletus were able to reach the target in similar—and very short—times. These strike durations were similar to or shorter than values reported for vipers (Herrel et al, ; Young, ), demonstrating that rapid striking is not unique in vipers or ambush foragers (Penning et al, ; Ryerson and Tan, ). For a predatory strike to be successful, the snake must close the distance between itself and its prey before the prey can evade.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…First, their life‐history and behavior have been well documented (DeGregorio et al, ; Ernst & Ernst, ), as well as several aspects of their predation (Penning & Moon, ) and defensive performance (Penning et al, ). Further, to our knowledge, P. obsoletus is one of the few nonviperid snakes to have some prior strike performance data that we are able to build from (Penning et al, ; Ryerson & Tan, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The scaling of terrestrial striking performance in western ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus)

2019

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In many organisms, juveniles have performance capabilities that partly offset their disadvantageous sizes. Using high-speed video recordings and imaging software, we measured the scaling of head morphology, axial morphology, and defensive strike performance of Pantherophis obsoletus across their ontogeny to understand how size and morphology affect performance. Head measurements were negatively allometric whereas the cross-sectional area (CSA) of epaxial muscles displayed positive allometry. The greater relative muscle CSA of larger ratsnakes allows them to produce higher forces relative to their mass, and those forces act on a relatively smaller head mass when it is thrust forward during striking. Maximum strike accelerations of 70-273.8 ms −2 and velocities of 1.08-3.39 ms −1 scaled positively with body mass but differed from the geometric predictions. Velocity scaled with mass 0.15 and acceleration scaled with mass 0.17 . Larger snakes struck from greater distances (range = 4.1-26 cm), but all snakes covered the strike distances with similarly short durations (84 ± 3 ms). The negatively allometric head size, isometry of anterior mass, and positively allometric muscle CSA enable larger P. obsoletus to strike with higher velocities and accelerations than smaller individuals. Our results contrast with the scaling of strike performance in an arboreal viper, whose strike distance and velocity were independent of body mass. When strike distance is modulated, all other performance capacities are affected because of the interdependence of acceleration, velocity, duration, and distance. K E Y W O R D Sacceleration, allometry, antipredator behavior, defense, high-speed video, ontogeny, velocity

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The scaling of terrestrial striking performance in western ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus)

2019

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“…If the strike was accurate, velocity and distance of the snake strike were not statistically related to outcome. This result was unexpected, due to the overwhelming emphasis on maximum velocity in the biomechanical and kinematic literature on ambush predation in general, and snake strikes in particular (LaDuc, ; Ryerson & Tan, ; Young, ; Young, Phelan, Jaggers, & Nejman, ). Our study illustrates that the outcome of predator–prey interactions involving high‐speed attack and evasion behaviours can be driven by intricate, system‐specific dynamics (e.g., attack accuracy, prey reaction time, forced fang removal), and may be heavily influenced by context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the unsuccessful strike, the images correspond to the moment of strike initiation (0 ms), first frame of the kangaroo rat response (32 ms), kangaroo rat's leap (168 ms), kangaroo rat landing on the snake (496 ms), and the kangaroo rat running away (582 ms). In the bite, the images correspond to strike initiation (0 ms), first contact with kangaroo rat (160 ms), kangaroo rat kicking the snake (246 ms), and the snake being propelled away by the kangaroo rat's kick (326 ms) in general, and snake strikes in particular (LaDuc, 2002;Ryerson & Tan, 2017;Young, 2010;Young, Phelan, Jaggers, & Nejman, 2001).…”

Section: Predator Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of predation success: How to survive an attack from a rattlesnake

et al. 2019

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The selection pressures that arise from capturing prey and avoiding predators are some of the strongest biotic forces shaping animal form and function. Examining how performance (i.e., athletic ability) affects the outcomes of encounters between free‐ranging predators and prey is essential for understanding the determinants of predation success rates and broad scale predator–prey dynamics, but quantifying these encounters in natural situations is logistically challenging. The goal of our study was to examine how various metrics of predator/prey performance determine predation success by studying natural predator–prey interactions in the field with minimal manipulation of the study subjects. We used high‐speed video recordings of free‐ranging sidewinder rattlesnakes (predator, Crotalus cerastes) and desert kangaroo rats (prey, Dipodomys deserti) to study how performance at various stages of their encounters alters the outcome of their interactions. We found that predation success depends on (a) whether the rattlesnake struck accurately, (b) if the rattlesnake strike was accurate, the reaction time and escape manoeuvres of the kangaroo rat, and (c) if the kangaroo rat was bitten, the ability of the kangaroo rat to use defensive manoeuvres to avoid subjugation by the snake. The results of our study suggest that the role of performance in predator–prey interactions is complex, and the determinants of predation success are altered by both predator and prey at multiple stages of an interaction in ways that may not be apparent in many experimental contexts. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13318/suppinfo is available for this article.

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“…High-speed video recording is a common tool to visualize and subsequently quantify fast behavioral performances such as in snakes (Kardong and Bels, 1998;Young, 2010;Herrel et al, 2011;Penning et al, 2016;Ryerson and Tan, 2017), other fast moving animals (Patek et al, 2004;Tobalske et al, 2007;Seid et al, 2008), or insect flight (e.g. Altshuler et al, 2005;Boeddeker et al, 2010;Geurten et al, 2010;Straw et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SnakeStrike: A Low-Cost Open-Source High-Speed Multi-Camera Motion Capture System

Jensen

Smagt

Heiss

et al. 2020

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Current neuroethological experiments require sophisticated technologies to precisely quantify the behavior of animals. In many studies, solutions for video recording and subsequent tracking of animal behavior form a major bottleneck. Three-dimensional (3D) tracking systems have been available for a few years but are usually very expensive and rarely include very high-speed cameras; access to these systems for research is limited. Additionally, establishing custom-built software is often time consumingespecially for researchers without high-performance programming and computer vision expertise. Here, we present an open-source software framework that allows researchers to utilize low-cost high-speed cameras in their research for a fraction of the cost of commercial systems. This software handles the recording of synchronized high-speed video from multiple cameras, the offline 3D reconstruction of that video, and a viewer for the triangulated data, all functions previously also available as separate applications. It supports researchers with a performance-optimized suite of functions that encompass the entirety of data collection and decreases processing time for high-speed 3D position tracking on a variety of animals, including snakes. Motion capture in snakes can be particularly demanding since a strike can be as short as 50 ms, literally twice as fast as the blink of an eye. This is too fast for faithful recording by most commercial tracking systems and therefore represents a challenging test to our software for quantification of animal behavior. Therefore, we conducted a case study investigating snake strike speed to showcase the use and integration of the software in an existing experimental setup.

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Strike kinematics and performance in juvenile ball pythons (Python regius)

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

The scaling of terrestrial striking performance in western ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus)

The scaling of terrestrial striking performance in western ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus)

Determinants of predation success: How to survive an attack from a rattlesnake

SnakeStrike: A Low-Cost Open-Source High-Speed Multi-Camera Motion Capture System

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