1 / 11

The Not-So-Dumb Corn Snake

The Not-So-Dumb Corn Snake. Pantherophis guttatus. Introduction. Corn snakes are smarter than I thought Background information on corn snake Nomenclature Appearance Habitat & Food Spatial learning experiment. Background Information. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata

robyn
Download Presentation

The Not-So-Dumb Corn Snake

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Not-So-Dumb Corn Snake Pantherophis guttatus

  2. Introduction • Corn snakes are smarter than I thought • Background information on corn snake • Nomenclature • Appearance • Habitat & Food • Spatial learning experiment

  3. Background Information Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subpylum: Vertebrata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata (lizards and snakes) Suborder: Serpentes Family: Colubridae (non-venomous) Genus: Pantherophis

  4. Nomenclature • Pantherophis guttatus pantherophis = leopard guttatus = speckled or spotted Other names: Red rat snake

  5. Appearance • „vivid colors of reddish or orange blotches edged in black with a grayish to orange colored background tinged with yellow“ (http://wildwnc.org/af/cornsnake.html) • Belly: black/white checkerboard

  6. Habitat & Food & Characteristics • New Jersey –Florida, East Coast – Texas and Utah • Overgrown fields, forest openings, and abandoned or seldom used buildings, corn fields and corn cribs • Feed on rodents and thereby keep down the rodent population • Excellent climbers looking for nestling birds • Poikilotherm • Respiration via lungs • Lay eggs • Non-venomous snakes • Constricting their prey

  7. Spatial Learning - Experiment Holtzman et. al 1997: Spatial learning of an escape task by young corn snakes, Elaphe guttata guttata - 17 snakes tested with a 4-day training period

  8. First Results from Experiment first trial of day 1 third trial of day 4

  9. Results from Experiment

  10. Conclusion Wow! – snakes are actually smart!!!

  11. Sources • http://wildwnc.org/af/cornsnake.html • Holtzman, David A., Terrenc3 W. Harris, Guillermo Arangurene, Elizabeth Bostock. 1999. Spatial learning of an escape task by young corn snakes, Elaphe guttata guttata. Animal Behaviour, 57, 51 – 60. • images: http://www.tainoreptiles.com

More Related