The defensive behaviour of Naja oxiana, with comments on the visual displays of cobras

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Herpetological Bulletin

Abstract

The defensive behaviours of a group of freshly-caught central Asiatic cobras, Naja oxiana, were evoked by the proximity of an experimenter. The cobras responded by hooding and holding 13-22% of their total body length in an elevated or vertical posture. From this vertical posture the cobras would launch defensive sham (closed-mouth) strikes; these strikes were typically associated with a short "burst"-like hiss, and were more frequent in the smaller snakes studied. The presence of the experimenter provoked an increase in the cobra's ventilatory rib movements as well as the tongue flick rates; the latter metric was strongly correlated with the height of vertical posturing, strike frequency, and hissing frequency. Most of the observed behaviours result from the cobras' visual perception, are interpreted as a visual display intended as a deterrent. This interpretation raises interesting, and previously unexplored, questions about intra- and interspecific variation of these displays (within both Naja and the Hemibungarini), as well as the relationship between these defensive behaviours and (repeatedly evolved) ability to "spit" venom.

First Page

13

Last Page

17

Publication Date

12-1-2016

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