Scales Zoo
12-18-03, 10:22 AM
First off, we are part of the Readers Digest book club, and they keep sending us amazing animal books, the last one is great – we are keeping it.
It is called “The hidden powers of animals – uncover the secrets of nature” by Dr. Karl P. N. Shuker
It has loads of interesting animal stuff, but I am really happy with the amount of snake content. I got to page 100 and read something really interesting.
They write about the different noises snakes can make. After the bullsnake and its glottis is discussed, they write about the Bornean Cave Racer (Blue beauty snake - Elaphe taeniurae grabowskyi) and its ability to make an “eerie, penetrating yowling sound” much like the meowing of a cat. Groups of researchers documented this as lately as 1980, according to the book.
It goes on to state that researchers think that it may be a mechanism for luring cave swiftlets (a fast flying bird) nearer to the snake, so it can grab them out of the air as it flies by. It also says that these birds, like bats, use an echolocation mode of navigation – a series of high pitched squeaks which echo, letting the bird (and bats) “see” the cave walls as they fly out.
I’ve done some searching on the web, and have not found any reference to this. I’m wondering if Elaphe t. ridleyi might also be capable of making this noise, as ridleyi and grabowskyi are very similar as far as the taeniurae group is concerned.
So, what I’m asking, has anyone heard their cave dwellers or blue beauties making a weird noise? Any meowers?
Ryan
It is called “The hidden powers of animals – uncover the secrets of nature” by Dr. Karl P. N. Shuker
It has loads of interesting animal stuff, but I am really happy with the amount of snake content. I got to page 100 and read something really interesting.
They write about the different noises snakes can make. After the bullsnake and its glottis is discussed, they write about the Bornean Cave Racer (Blue beauty snake - Elaphe taeniurae grabowskyi) and its ability to make an “eerie, penetrating yowling sound” much like the meowing of a cat. Groups of researchers documented this as lately as 1980, according to the book.
It goes on to state that researchers think that it may be a mechanism for luring cave swiftlets (a fast flying bird) nearer to the snake, so it can grab them out of the air as it flies by. It also says that these birds, like bats, use an echolocation mode of navigation – a series of high pitched squeaks which echo, letting the bird (and bats) “see” the cave walls as they fly out.
I’ve done some searching on the web, and have not found any reference to this. I’m wondering if Elaphe t. ridleyi might also be capable of making this noise, as ridleyi and grabowskyi are very similar as far as the taeniurae group is concerned.
So, what I’m asking, has anyone heard their cave dwellers or blue beauties making a weird noise? Any meowers?
Ryan