Do garter snakes strike at the eyes of the predators?
Article Abstract:
Results of an experimental study indicate that garter snakes attack the eyes of predators to escape from threatening situations. Garter snakes raised in a laboratory were exposed to a model which had two glass taxidermic eyes. When presented with the model snakes showed significantly higher number of strikes in the area around the eyes, than on any other part of the model.Garter snakes being small at birth are preyed upon by birds and other animals. Hence, attacking the predators' eyes can be an effective defense mechanism, as eyes are the most vulnerable part of the animals' body.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1992
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The consistency of individual differences in behaviour: Temperature effects on antipredator behaviour in garter snakes
Article Abstract:
Differences among individuals are necessary for natural selection, and selection is less powerful when individuals inconsistently express a trait. Little is known about how repeatability in an environment changes within a single environment. The consistency of antipredator behaviour in juvenile garter snakes was examined in different thermal environments. At cooler temperatures the snakes crawled more slowly, for shorter distances and performed fewer reversals. They showed consistency, but the consistency of expression was not affected by temperature.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1999
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Congenital responsiveness of garter snakes to a dangerous prey abolished by learning
Article Abstract:
Laboratory experiments reveal that most infant Thamnophis melanogaster and T. eques assault and try to eat up an unpalatable and dangerous species of leech. Eating pieces of leech integument and assault on living leeches and swabs impregnated with their surface chemicals establish congenital responsiveness to integumentary chemicals. The results are contrary to the conclusion of much research that the chemical responsiveness of infant garter snakes to different species of leeches is adaptive.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1995
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