The effect of cage size on strike-induced chemosensory searching and postpredatory activity in the puff adder (Bitis arietans, MERREM 1820)

Abstract

Kemoosjetilno traženje plijena nakon predatorskog ugriza je fenomen kojim se ljutice služe da bi uspješno pronašle plijen kojeg su prethodno ugrizle. Nakon što ga ugrize, zmija ga pusti te ga potom traži pomoću jezika koji skuplja mirisne čestice te ih šalje u vomeronazalni organ. Pritom zmija uspoređuje kemijsku sliku plijena nastalu pomoću vomeronazalnog organa u središnjem živčanom sustavu s mirisom koji plijen ostavlja u okolišu. Naše istraživanje se odvijalo u laboratorijskim uvjetima gdje smo proučavali utjecaj veličine kaveza na ovaj fenomen. Otkrili smo da je prosječni broj palucaja malo veći u većem kavezu no također i da aktivnost brže opada u većem kavezu. Proučavana vrsta je bila aktivna i do pet sati nakon ugriza no aktivnija je bila u malom kavezu. Naime, kumulativni broj palucaja se nije značajno razlikovao ovisno o veličini kaveza no ipak postoje velike razlike između pojedinih zmija.Strike-induced chemosensory searching is a phenomenon that vipers use to successfully follow the prey that they have previously biten. After the strike, the snake releases the prey and then searches it using her tongue that collects odours from the environment and sends them to the vomeronasal organ. When it does that, the snake is comparing the chemical image of the prey that was formed using her vomeronazal organ in the central nervous sistem with the scent that the prey had left in the nearby environment. Our study was conducted in the laboratory where we studied the effect of cage size on this phenomenon. We found that the average number of tongue flicks is a bit higher in the larger cage but also that the activity of the snake is declining faster in the larger cage. The species that we studied was active up to five hours after the strike and she was more active in the smaller cage. The cumulative number of tongue flicks was not significantly different whether the snake was in the small or in the large cage but there were big differences between individual snakes