Annals of Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW Animal Science No 52, 2013: 243–252 (Ann. Warsaw Univ. of Life Sci. – SGGW, Anim. Sci. 52, 2013) Comparative behaviour analysis of some colubrids with reference to suitability of captive bred snakes for reintroduction to natural habitat ANDRZEJ ĩYCZYēSKI, ZUZANNA NOWAK Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW Abstract: Comparative behaviour analysis of INTRODUCTION some colubrids with reference to suitability of captive bred snakes for reintroduction to natural Herpetofauna belongs to that most vul- habitat. A sample of newly hatched American colubrids, divided according to their level of nerable group of animals and those most domestication, understood herewith as the gen- endangered by anthropogenic pressure eration history in captivity, was tested in an open to their natural habitat. There have been ¿ eld test (OFT) for degree of activity and con¿ - many attempts of in situ conservation dence in open terrain and in confrontation with in- and some have proved quite effective dividuals of such species as Pantherophis guttatus and Lampropeltis getula splendida as well as L. g. – for more information on this, see the californiae, in order to compare their antagonistic Materials of VI World Congress of Her- and feeding behaviour reactions. The cluster com- petology – Manaus 2008. Despite these parison of defence reactions revealed no effect of efforts, more and more trials are under- domestication (many generation in captivity) in taken for ex situ strategies. Traditionally the face of potential danger. Even albino phase Kingsnakes, considered to be the form of this spe- this activity is the domain of universities cies most affected by captivity (altered genome), or ZOOs, which maintain certain species maintained their natural feeding response. The as gene banks – potential sources of ma- degree of activity in OFT conditions was seen to terial for reintroduction. In the case of decrease with the snakes’ age. Thus it was demon- snakes, there are quite a few examples strated that captive specimens bred in terrariums of attempts in this ¿ eld. During the years may be considered a gene bank for ex situ conser- vation strategy. However it is recommended that 1980–1986, some 34 specimens of cap- specimens as young as possible should be used tive bred Rocky Python Python sebae in reintroduction to natural habitat, as these will were released into the Great Fish River respond most faithfully to the pressure of natural Nature Reserve (Eastern Cape), but there selection, based on their behavioural variation not was no follow-up (Alexander and Marais supressed by apathy caused by captivity. 2007, Mattison 2013 – personal commu- Key words: Lampropeltis, Pantherophis, antago- nication). In the USA, ¿ ve AZA facilities nistic and feeding reactions, captive breeding, have created a consortium “Conservation ex situ conservation 244 A. ĩyczyĔski, Z. Nowak Centre for Species Survival” undertak- though as early as 1975, John Coborn ing preparatory work for reintroduction organized the symposium “Conservation programs for various taxons, including and Captive Reptiles and Amphibians”, snakes. The species of choice are to be where the case was made by many her- the San Francisco garter snake Thamno- petologists for and against captivity as an phis sirtalis tetrataenia and the Louisi- aid to the preservation of wild species, ana Pine Snake Pituophis ruthveni (Mat- there is still much work to be done in tison 1995, Conway 2011, Mattison 2013 this ¿ eld. In any case, it must be admit- – personal communication). Godwin ted that the level of knowledge of her- et al. in 2008 presented a comprehen- petofauna husbandry is constantly grow- sive report on the captive propagation ing and additionally, the pure breeding of the critically endangered Eastern In- strategy according to locality of origin digo Snake Drymarchon couperi, which has become the ethical rule among the included suggestions concerning other most advanced keepers. As a result, in snake species. An initial scenario was many cases the numbers of certain spe- developed for supplementing the local cies in captivity exceed those ever to be population of Grey Banded Kingsnake seen in the wild and these can be treated Lampropeltis alterna by captive animals as pure gene banks. Their active popula- (Spanowicz and ĩyczyĔski 2002). Simi- tion, with a quite large effective number lar efforts were undertaken by àódĨ Uni- (Ne) is much greater than could be as- versity, in cooperation with àódĨ ZOO, sured by of¿ cial institutions limited by for a domestic (Polish) species – Smooth state budget conditions. But if we are to Snake Coronella austriaca (ZieliĔski treat captive animals as candidates for re- and Stanisáawski 2001, Stanisáawski stocking, we must be sure that these ful¿ l 2003). All these attempts led to the re- the demands of gene bank purity, as well lease of captive snakes into the wild, but as the demands with regard to sanitarian were not continued after the ¿ rst trial. status, in order to prevent introduction of Another attempt worth mentioning exotic pathogens to the natural habitat. was the successful reintroduction of the The captive material must also exhibit Antiguan Racer Alsophis antiguae (Dal- the natural degree of ¿ tness that can be try 1999 and 2006). In this project, the subjected to natural selection. reintroduced snakes were ¿ eld collected The aim of the present study is a com- on Great Bird Island, tagged and released parative behavioural analysis of captive on small Rabbit Island. On the contrary bred snakes, which can be differentiated the results of reintroduction of Woma according to the level of their domestica- Python Aspidites ramsayi in Arid Recov- tion (understood herewith as the multi- ery Reserve in northern South Australia generation history in terrariums’ life). did not meet the short-term and medi- um-term success criteria mostly due to predator pressure (Moseby et al. 2011). MATERIALS AND METHODS Potential support for such work may The snakes used in this study were born come from private enthusiasts and keep- in Laboratory of Department of Genet- ers. This is a signi¿ cant new idea. Al- ics and Animal Breeding of WULS Comparative behaviour analysis of colubrids with... 245 – SGGW. They belonged to the genera The snakes were subjected to open Lampropeltis and Pantherophis. Au- ¿ eld test – OFT (Markowska 1979) scor- thors chose these taxons in view of their ing points for movement activity within popularity among keepers. Compared to the ¿ eld. Animals were placed within other genera, most of these snakes have a ring 90 × 90 cm, fenced with wooden a quite long generation history in captiv- walls. The surface of the ring consisted ity and thus constitute interesting materi- of squares 30 × 30 cm forming three al for an evaluation of the level of natural rows. The scores for activity were count- behaviour preserved. These may serve ed as follows: snake was getting one as a model for conclusions concerning point when slithered along one square other, potentially truly endangered spe- adjacent to the walls and 3 points for dis- cies, which are currently not stocked in tancing from the ring walls and entering collections. the square in the centre of the ¿ eld. Af- The material was divided into the fol- ter 5 min of observation the points were lowing groups: added up. 1. Ls × Lc – inter subspecies cross be- Later the snakes were confronted tween Sinaloan Milk Snake Lampro- with a young Corn Snake Pantherophis peltis triangulum sinaloe and Pueblan guttatus – a species preferring rodents as Milk Snake Lampropeltis triangulum the natural diet, and a Desert Kingsnake campbelli – (parents from multigenera- Lampropeltis getula splendida – liv- tional captive breeding) – here – captive ing (as the whole genus Lampropeltis) (domesticated) type – 10 specimens; on lizards and other snakes as its most 2. Lpp × Lpk – inter subspecies cross be- typical food. The points scored and body tween Arizona Mountain Kingsnake weights of each snake tested were sub- Lampropeltis pyromelana pyromelana jected to one-way ANOVA. When nec- and Chihuahua Mountain Kingsnake essary the F-test was followed by D-test Lampropeltis pyromelana knoblochi to verify the signi¿ cance of differences – second generation in captivity – in- among the groups. Additional analysis of termediate type – 3 specimens; covariance with body weight as an oper- 3. Ege – Great Plains Rat Snake Pan- and variable was done to check whether therophis emoryi – from ¿ eld collected the sizes of snakes could affect their con- parents – wild type – 8 specimens; ¿ dence and thus the results of OFT test. 4. Ege × Egg – interspecies cross be- During confrontations (lasting 5 min tween Great Plain Rat Snake Pan- each) with another snake, the following therophis emoryi (¿ eld collected) and reactions were noted on a Yes or No basis: Corn Snake Pantherophis guttatus lack of any reaction, strong tail rattling (amelanistic form – ¿ xed mutation in (loud and lasting longer than 5 s), weak multigenerational captivity) – inter- tail rattling (lasting less than 5 s), tossing mediate type – 6 specimens; movements, sudden retreat, avoidance 5. Eggalb × Eggan – Pantherophis gut- and attack. tatus – a crossbreed of two ¿ xed mu- In authors’ experience, the chosen/ tations – snow albinism and anery- /described reactions reÀ ect well the emo- trystic (black albinism) – “domestic” tional status of the snake during the test. type – 7 specimens. The probabilities of each reaction in two 246 A. ĩyczyĔski, Z. Nowak separate trials, for confrontations with only. As the snakes aged, the differences Corn Snake P. guttata and Desert King- between groups disappeared. snake L. g. splendida and combined, The score in the II observation is gen- were subjected to cluster analysis (Nei erally smaller – vide Table 1. This can be 1972) permitting to build dendrograms explained by increased apathy caused by of behavioural distance. captive conditions. In an additional analysis (not in- The ANOVA results for snakes body cluded in all experiments), authors used weights were signi¿ cant P 0.05.