Abstract
Mice (Mus musculus, average weight = 20.8 g), envenomated by red spitting cobras (Naja mossambica pallida), were immobilized significantly sooner if the cobra delivered multiple strikes (3) than if it delivered only a single strike. Many viperid snakes (e.g., rattlesnakes) strike only once per predatory episode, whereas elapids (e.g., cobras) typically strike two to three times. The present study indicates that the number of strikes delivered by cobras is correlated positively with the severity of envenomation and inversely with the probability of losing potential rodent prey. Poststrike behavior of red spitting cobras is discussed, and is compared with that of rattlesnakes.
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Chiszar, D., Radcliffe, C. W., & Byers, T. Prey capture behavior in viperid and elapid snakes. Manuscript submitted for publication, 1983.
Greene, H. W. Empirical approaches to three problems in reptile ecology. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles and the Herpetologists’ League, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1982.
O’Connell, B., Chiszar, D., Greenlee, R., & Bacon, J. Strike-induced chemosensory searching in elapid snakes at San Diego Zoo. Manuscript in preparation, 1983.
Radcliffe, C. W., Estep, K., & Chiszar, D. Predatory behavior of the red spitting cobra (Naja mossambica pallida). Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles and the Herpetologists’ League, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1982.
Brock, O. G. Rattlesnakes in search of prey. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles and the Herpetologist’s League, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1979.
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The authors wish to thank John Behler and the New York Zoological Society for providing the specimens of Naja mossambica pallida.
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Radcliffe, C.W., Poole, T., Feiler, F. et al. Immobilization of mice following envenomation by cobras (Naja mossambica pallida). Bull. Psychon. Soc. 21, 243–246 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334698
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334698