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Aspects about the feeding behavior of the Laughing falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans) remain poorly investigated with scarce reports of identified species ingested by this bird. Worse still, information describing how this bird ingests poisonous snakes is not known. Although this falcon eats snakes, there are no reports of feeding on Bothrops atrox....
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Ophyophagy is a common feeding habit in snakes; however, there are few records of this behavior for the genus Bothrops. Here, we report the first case of predation of Bothrops moojeni upon Amerotyphlops brongersmianus. Our record reinforces the known generalist habit of B. moojeni and indicates an opportunistic diet.
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... Laughing falcons are specialist predators of snakes, which seem protected from their bites, while descriptions of predation by puffbirds indicate a high level of competency, if not specialisation: catching close to the head and immediately killing the catch. NG Smith reports that Herpetotheres do not discriminate between non-venomous and venomous species, which they routinely consume (Costa, Lopes, de Freitas MARÇAL, & Zorzin, 2014;Medrano-Vizcaíno, 2019). Herpetotheres are physically protected against snake bites with thick and concave scales (Costa, Lopes, de Freitas MARÇAL, & Zorzin, 2014) that seem efficient even against large fanged vipers. ...
The functions of bright bands in coral and other snakes have long been a puzzle. The most common opinion is that coral snakes display aposematic marks and that other red and black banded snakes in the Americas are mimics of coral snakes. Although supported by some evidence, the notion comes with unresolved difficulties. Here, I review the proposed functions of the colour of coral snakes and similar-coloured snakes, taking a more comprehensive view than usual, from the plausibility of aposematism in coral snakes to the apparent existence of a selective force for red and black banded patterns across the world. Theoretical models of the maintenance of aposematic signals do not seem applicable, hence aposematism has a low a priori plausibility in coral snakes. Evidence of avoidance is weak, field studies rely on unsettled methods and do not reproduce well, and two laboratory studies reporting strong innate fear are questioned. Coral snakes predict the geography and richness of ‘mimics’ in the Americas, but not in line with expectations. Conversely, polymorphism and evidence of local selection and of a worldwide selective force for patterns similar to coral snakes, including complex banded patterns, contradicts aposematism and mimicry and points to an undefined alternative. In summary, aposematism and mimicry fail on too many fronts to be sustained, existing alternatives also fail to be supported sufficiently, and hypotheses need to be formulated to account for the widespread selection for red and black bands and for complex banded patterns in snakes.
... Furthermore, B. jararaca displayed head hiding more often towards aerial predators than terrestrial predators. Birds of prey, such as the snake-specialist Laughing falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans), kill their snake prey pecking at its head or tearing the head off [35]. Snakes tend to hide their most vital part (head) during aerial attacks with higher head attack rates [31]. ...
The reduction of predation is a potentially important factor for the evolution of the traits of an island animal species. By relaxed selection, insular animals tend to lose their antipredator behaviors. A monophyletic group of pitvipers (genus Bothrops) in southeastern Brazil, which have high genetic affinity and dwell on the mainland and adjacent islands, provide an appropriate setting to study the evolution of antipredator behavior and how different predatory stimuli can influence this behavior. The mainland Bothrops jararaca has several terrestrial and aerial predators, whereas B. insularis and B. alcatraz, restricted to two small islands, Queimada Grande and Alcatrazes, respectively, have a smaller range of aerial predators. Terrestrial predators are absent on Queimada Grande, but one potential snake predator occurs on Alcatrazes. We observed that the defensive repertoire of island snakes has not been lost, but they display different frequencies of some antipredator behaviors. The type of predatory stimuli (terrestrial and aerial) influenced the defensive response. Bothrops insularis most often used the escape strategies, especially against terrestrial predatory stimuli. Bothrops alcatraz displayed the highest rate of strike for both terrestrial and aerial stimuli. Our results indicate that even though relaxed selection may occur in island environments as compared to mainland environments, these pitvipers still retain their antipredator behaviors but with different response degrees to the two predator types.
... There are few confirmed cases of predation of snakes by birds of prey (e.g., Martins et al. 2003;DuVal et al. 2006;Costa et al. 2009Costa et al. , 2014Medrano-Vizcaíno 2019;Sawaya et al. 2003;Travaglia-Cardoso & Almeida-Santos 2012), which include studies of roadside hawks hunting the twoheaded sipo snake Chironius bicarinatus (Zocche et al. 2018) and snakes of the genera Apostolepis, Philodryas, Erythrolamprus and Rhachidelus (de Souza et al. 2022). ...
One of the most apparent origins of biodiversity loss caused by humans is infrastructural development of roads. Yet they offer certain benefits for some animals, such as hunting opportunities with lower energy costs and consumption of carrion earlier hit by vehicles. Raptors find roads a particularly favorable environment, perching on poles or overhead cables and waiting to attack their prey as it crosses a road. This paper describes the first ever recorded predation by a roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris) of a striped snake (Lygophis anomalus) supportable by material evidence, when both the raptor and the snake were hit by a vehicle immediately after the snake was caught. The study contributes to knowledge about the roadside hawk’s diet and illuminates the problem these human infrastructures pose for animals. Future research on roads birds of prey use as hunting sites could contribute toward improvements in conservation programs for birds of prey species.
... There are few confirmed cases of predation of snakes by birds of prey (e.g., Martins et al. 2003;DuVal et al. 2006;Costa et al. 2009Costa et al. , 2014Medrano-Vizcaíno 2019;Sawaya et al. 2003;Travaglia-Cardoso & Almeida-Santos 2012), which include studies of roadside hawks hunting the twoheaded sipo snake Chironius bicarinatus (Zocche et al. 2018) and snakes of the genera Apostolepis, Philodryas, Erythrolamprus and Rhachidelus (de Souza et al. 2022). ...
Roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris) hit by an oncoming vehicle while capturing a striped snake (Lygophis anomalus) Myšiak zobatý (Rupornis magnirostris) zasiahnutý protiidúcim vozidlom pri love Lygophis anomalus Abstract: One of the most apparent origins of biodiversity loss caused by humans is infrastructural development of roads. Yet they offer certain benefits for some animals, such as hunting opportunities with lower energy costs and consumption of carrion earlier hit by vehicles. Raptors find roads a particularly favorable environment, perching on poles or overhead cables and waiting to attack their prey as it crosses a road. This paper describes the first ever recorded predation by a roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris) of a striped snake (Lygophis anomalus) supportable by material evidence, when both the raptor and the snake were hit by a vehicle immediately after the snake was caught. The study contributes to knowledge about the roadside hawk's diet and illuminates the problem these human infrastructures pose for animals. Future research on roads birds of prey use as hunting sites could contribute toward improvements in conservation programs for birds of prey species.
... Records of birds preying on snakes are not rare (Carevic, 2011;Cruz et al., 2014;Medrano-Vizcaíno, 2019), and usually involve birds of prey (Santos et al., 2021). Here, we report, for the first time, a predation event of an Apostolepis cearensis by the burrowing owl, A. cunicularia. ...
... Predator-prey relationships are fundamental ecological processes involving different individuals, expected to influence and reflect complex population dynamics (Cresswell 2008). Considering birds and snakes, previous studies suggest that snakes can often be the predator (Travaglia-Cardoso et al. 2016;Groen et al. 2020;Santos-Filho et al. 2021) but also the prey (DuVal et al. 2006;Costa et al. 2009Costa et al. , 2014Zocche et al. 2018;Medrano-Vizcaíno 2019). Records of snakes predated by birds have gradually increased in numbers over time, enhancing knowledge of the feeding habits of each species. ...
... The circumstances of predation events must be interpreted with caution, since many bird species, especially birds of prey, usually consume already dead snakes, which is considered scavenging rather than predatory instances (Sazima and Abe 1991). Confirmed predation-prey interactions between birds and snakes recorded in previous studies suggests that, to a large extent, avian predators of snakes are birds of prey, such as the burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia (Martins et al. 2003); the white-tailed hawk, Geranoaetus albicaudatus ; the laughing falcon, Herpetotheres cachinnans (DuVal et al. 2006;Costa et al. 2009Costa et al. , 2014Medrano-Vizcaíno 2019), the roadside hawk, Rupornis magnirostris (Zocche et al. 2018); and the barn owl, Tyto furcata (Travaglia-Cardoso and Almeida-Santos 2012). However, predation records also extend to other bird clades, such as passerines (Tozetti 2010;Sazima and D'Angelo 2011), cariamids (Travaglia-Cardoso and Almeida-Santos 2012), herons (Franz et al. 2007), and vultures (Almeida et al. 2010). ...
... In birds that prey on snakes, the decapitation of the snake's head seems to be a shared behavioural strategy that enables successful predation (e.g. Martins et al. 2003;Medrano-Vizcaíno 2019;. ...
Citizen science is the interaction of the non-academic community in scientific studies, often extended to collaborative platforms. We analyzed 168 photographs shared in a Brazilian citizen science platform to understand the feeding interactions between birds and snakes in Brazil, comparing our findings to published data. We searched for patterns in bird taxa and behaviour correlated with ophiophagy, snake groups most vulnerable to predation, and biases resulting from citizen science data. Records were made mostly in southeastern and southern Brazil. Both birds and snakes recorded are primarily diurnal, terrestrial, and use open habitats. Predators represent especially birds of prey, but nine other families were observed, and most of the identified snakes belong to Dipsadidae and Colubridae. Venomous snakes were observed, suggesting that birds must deploy strategies to avoid injuries. Finally, we added a new vertebrate item to the diet of the white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi). Data biases of citizen science platforms, which in this work include differences in the number of records between different geographic regions and periods of day, must be considered. However, this kind of data can be a powerful tool for understanding life history patterns and natural history of birds and other animals.
... Although roads can be a huge threat to snake's survival, it has been found that records (not only from snakes) obtained from road ecology studies are important sources for registering new information on wildlife species around the world. This approach has been useful to describe diets [4,5], wildlife parasitic loads [6][7][8][9], predation behaviors [10], new species [11], and new distribution records [12,13]. ...
Monitoring wildlife roadkills is a valuable method to identify critical areas where animals are more susceptible to collision with vehicles, likewise, this type of work can let us know which species are more vulnerable to this human impact. Besides these relevant utilities used for mitigation purposes, this effort can provide very important information about the biology, ecology and biogeography of species. In this paper, we report new geographic records found while working on a road ecology study. These data increase the distribution of six snakes’ species (Anilius scytale, Drymarchon corais, Erythrolamprus breviceps, Micrurus lemniscatus, Oxyrhopus vanidicus and Trilepida anthracina), from which, four show scarce and almost inexistent historical records (Anilius scytale, Drymarchon corais, Erythrolamprus breviceps, and Trilepida anthracina). We encourage researchers, especially road ecologists, to notice and report these observations, which can be highly valuable for expanding the knowledge of species distributions, a key factor forconducting integral studies of fauna.
The knowledge about interactions between predators and prey is essential for
understanding the natural history of animals, especially snakes, which are cryptic organisms that are difficult to visualize in the wild. This article reports on the
predation of lizards, frogs, bats and venomous snakes by the snake Philodryas
nattereri, evidencing its generalist feeding habits.
