The behavioral response of emerging pine snakes (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pituophis melanoleucus</Emphasis>) to people: implications for survival and protection |
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Authors: | Joanna Burger |
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Institution: | (1) Division of Life Sciences, Rutgers University, 604 Allison Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082, USA |
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Abstract: | Considerable attention has been devoted to the effects of people on birds and mammals, usually in wilderness areas. In contrast,
human disturbance of reptiles has largely been ignored. Many reptiles, such as snakes, are hard to conserve because they are
difficult to locate and protect. The young are especially vulnerable to predators when they first hatch and must emerge from
nest sites. In this paper, the response of pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus) hatchlings to the presence and handling by people was observed in the laboratory and in the field. Pine snakes lay their
eggs in underground burrows in open sandy pine barrens, and the hatchlings push their way to the surface to emerge. Hatchlings
that were visually-disturbed or touched as they emerged returned immediately to their tunnels and nests, and required more
time to re-emerge than did their siblings that were not visually-disturbed or touched during their initial disturbance. In
nature, undisturbed pine snakes showed similar re-emergence times to those from the laboratory, and disturbed snakes required
longer to re-emerge. These data suggest that in nature even the presence of people in nesting areas of pine snakes would lengthen
the time the young are in burrows, exposing them to additional threats from predators. This suggests that parks or nature
reserves with vulnerable snake populations should restrict human disturbance during the period when young snakes are emerging
from their nests. Field observations indicate that a set-back distance of more than 12 m from known nesting areas is essential
to protect emerging hatchlings. |
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Keywords: | Human disturbance Reptiles Snakes Emergence Urban wildlife Park Wildlife management area Set-back distance |
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