Living Habits of Reptiles (Part 10)© Janat Khatoon
Nov 10, 2001
Some of the best evidence of the rapport of reptiles with their surroundings is to be seen in the deceptive behaviour and resemblances they have evolved. The commonest of these are protective colours, patterns or shapes. The same species may be dark-coloured on dark soil and light where light background predominates. Some reptiles—most notably the chameleon—are able to manipulate their coloration to conform to or blend with different surroundings. The most elaborate concealing equipment combines coloration and form, as in three genera of Old World geckos that have greatly flattened bodies and tails, and bark-like colour patterns. Behaviour is often modified to reinforce deceptive resemblances. Various snakes, such as the South American vine snake Oxybelis, both look and act like inanimate twigs, vines or lianas. One of these even falls to the ground when touched and lies there like a dead twig. Still other kinds of snakes, including some of the coral snakes and some of the snakes that look like them, manipulate the hind end of the body with considerable verisimilitude as if it were the head end—a manoeuvre seemingly designed to divert attention from the more vulnerable part.
Along with warning coloration or behaviour, some reptiles have developed an ability to mimic warning devices, even though they have no dangerous or unpleasant properties of their own. Some biologists do not believe in the reality of many cases of mimicry. Partly this is because of the lack of laboratory proof of the phenomenon; partly it is because some people try so hard to avoid anthropomorphic judgments that they sometimes fall into error; and partly the skepticism has been fomented by some real errors of judgment that proponents of the mimicry idea have committed.
To be continued…
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You gave an interesting explanation of the tail-shaking habit of snakes. Where I grew up I frequently saw this in the fox snake, a large, harmless and highly beneficial species which people often kill ...
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