Date: 15 July 2020

Dataset Title: Raw video data from opportunistic observation of behavioral interaction between wild snakes (Sonora semiannulata)

Dataset Creators: Alison R. Davis Rabosky, Adrian Jantzi

Dataset Contact: Alison R. Davis Rabosky (ardr@umich.edu)

Overview of file content:

On 20 April 2020 at ca. 11:50h, one of the authors (AJ) opportunistically recorded an interaction between two adult snakes near Prescott, Yavapai Co., Arizona, USA. The behavior was ongoing when the observation started. Two red-black banded color morphs of the western groundsnake (Sonora semiannulata) had entwined nearly the full length of their bodies around one another. While intertwined with tails tightly wrapped around one another, both snakes exhibited caudocephalic waves down the length of their body and rolled to expose their ventral surfaces. Both snakes also raised their anterior surface of their body, including the head, off of the substrate to laterally or downwardly press down on the anterior surface of the other snake. This action was occasionally accompanied by rapid head movements that may have indicated biting. This interaction ended when the snakes disentangled and one snake fled. The snakes were not captured. While the sex of each participant in this interaction was not confirmed at the time of the observation, we suspect that the behavior recorded here was combat between two males, relating to the spring breeding season.  Although broadly known from other snake species, male-male combat has been previously documented in only 2 out of 15 known species in the genus Sonora, including S. episcopa and S. (formerly Chionactis) annulata. However, to our knowledge, this observation is the first documentation of combat in S. semiannulata and the first video of such behavior in the genus Sonora to accessioned for public access.


Files contained here:

-4 video files with sequential file numbers show the progression of the interaction as observed


Related publication(s):

Jantzi A, CL Cox, AR Davis Rabosky, AT Holycross. 2020. SONORA SEMIANNULATA (Western Groundsnake). COMBAT. Submitted to Herpetological Review.