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- Title
Defensive behaviours, inclination to bite and envenomation in the Little Whip Snake Suta flagellum (Elapidae).
- Authors
Turner, Grant S.
- Abstract
The defensive behaviours of the Little Whip Snake Suta flagellum in the field are described and the frequency of these behaviours is quantified. Males employed the threat display more often than females whereas females attempted to bite more often than males; a significant association was found between defensive behaviour and sex. The threat display was the most frequently employed response (52%) but attempts to flee were the most frequently employed first response (91%), followed by the threat display (79%). Juvenile snakes exhibited body coiling significantly more often than adults. Suta flagellum lacks a defensive strike and so bites defensively in the same manner as when feeding. The symptoms of single bites from a juvenile S. flagellum and an adult Dwyer’s Snake S. dwyeri were localised and very mild but both resulted in delayed allergic reactions.
- Subjects
FLAGELLA (Microbiology); SNAKES; ALLERGIES
- Publication
Victorian Naturalist, 2022, Vol 139, Issue 2, p43
- ISSN
0042-5184
- Publication type
Article