Using natricine snakes to test how prey type and size affect predatory behaviors and performance.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Predation is a complex process for which behavior, morphology, and size of both predator and prey can affect the success and effectiveness of the predator. For predators such as snakes that swallow prey whole, gape ultimately limits prey size, but the behaviors used to select, capture, and consume prey and attributes of the prey can also affect maximal prey size. For example, swallowing live, struggling prey is difficult, but using coiling or envenomation to restrain or kill prey has evolved repeatedly in snakes.

Methods

To test the potential benefits of these behaviors, we manipulated the type and size of prey, and determined how stereotyped predatory behavior was in a snake species (Liodytes rigida) that uses both coiling and envenomation to restrain an

SUBMITTER: Gripshover ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10196387 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature