NDLI: Early experience shapes the development of behavioral repertoires of hatchling snakes

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Mehta, Rita S.
Copyright Year	2008
Abstract	Snakes are obligate predatory organisms that consume prey whole, and despite their precocious nature, snakes must develop effective feeding skills, especially when encountering large prey. I conducted two experiments that document the development of behavioral repertoires for naïve hatchling trinket snakes, Coleognathus helena. In the first experiment, I examined how experience with prey of different relative prey mass encountered at regular feeding intervals affects hatchling feeding response. I also examined whether hatchling feeding performance improved over time. Improvement was evaluated on the frequency of the most effective behavioral states such as complex prey restraint behaviors and anterior-first ingestion. In the second experiment I tested whether feeding experience with prey of a particular size influences the way hatchlings respond to a novel prey size. All hatchlings improved their predatory behavior when prey size and number of trials were controlled. Hatchlings feeding on larger prey, however, showed greater overall improvement in their feeding behavior and were quick to integrate complex prey restraint behaviors such as constriction into their feeding repertoire. Despite the fact that early experience with one prey size seemed to shape their restraint repertoire during their first four feeding events, hatchlings remained flexible and responded to prey of a novel size with size-specific prey restraint behaviors.
Starting Page	143
Ending Page	151
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF
ISSN	02890771
Journal	Journal of Ethology
Volume Number	27
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	14395444
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Japan
Publisher Date	2008-05-30
Publisher Place	Japan
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Behavioral development Experience Prey restraint behavior Coleognathus helena Neurosciences Evolutionary Biology Animal Ecology Behavioural Sciences Zoology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
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4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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