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Aesculapian snake |
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JaySteel
Senior Member Joined: 07 May 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 157 |
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Thanks guys.
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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Hi Jay - I guess I do feel quite protective of them, both as individuals I've got to know over the last four years but also because they may become part of a study which could help with 'proper' conservation of relict Aesculapian populations (and those of other snakes, for example our own adders) by providing useful info on inbreeding, population dynamics etc). You're right that they're longer than you'd think when you see them coiled up - snake 7 is around 1.3m, I think.
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Robert V
Senior Member Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1264 |
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Oi
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RobV
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Robert V
Senior Member Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1264 |
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Hi all ye that survive! Lol
I thought I'd regurgitate this thread as I came across an interesting snippet in an ancient archive of anecdotes called Wild Animals in Captivity by A D Bartlett, the superintendent of Regents Park zoo during the late 1800's. REPTILE HOUSE. The old reptile house became unfit for the safe keeping of the lizards, venomous snakes and other reptiles that were deposited therein. It is very fortunate that no serious accidents occurred by reason of some of them having made their escape. The practice of feeding some of the snakes upon tame white mice was looked upon by many of the lady and children visitors as cruel. When I was spoken to, and written to, on the subject I took adv.antage of a suggestion that the common brown mouse, of which we had more than enough, would answer for feeding purposes quite as well as white ones. I therefore had mouse-traps set in all directions, and supplied the wild instead of the tame white ones. I soon discovered my mistake. These wild brown mice, if not killed directly, were soon engaged in gnawing their way out of the case, and the same opening which they made also allowed some of the snakes to follow. The tame white mice seldom or never attempt to gnaw their way out. Years after the old reptile house had been disused, harmless snakes that had escaped in this way were found in the mill-room underneath the old house. They had doubtless lived upon the rats and mice that swarmed in this place. The keeper of the reptile house came to me one day and told me that he had missed one of the cobras. I examined the empty cobra case, and found a mouse-hole in the corner leading into the water-viper's case. The water-viper appeared to have lately fed and to be well filled out, and I had some misgivings that the lost cobra, in creeping through the mouse-hole, had been caught and swallowed by the water-viper. The fear, coupled with the anxiety of thinking that so dangerous a serpent as a cobra was at liberty, caused me to determine to settle the question at once. I had the water- viper killed, and, upon examination, found the nearly digested cobra, which was a great relief to me and all the others. |
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RobV
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Paul Ford
Senior Member Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 196 |
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Very interesting Rob!
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JaySteel
Senior Member Joined: 07 May 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 157 |
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Thanks for sharing this. It does make one question whether there is the possibility that at least some of the Aesculapian Snakes found along Regents Canal did indeed originate from escapees from ZSL?
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Caleb
Senior Member Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Status: Offline Points: 660 |
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I don't think this is particularly likely, given that the origin and timing of the introduction is already quite well known. Will & Tom Langton's piece in the London Naturalist gives this summary: "A second feral population has been extant since the mid 1980s along
a canal embankment habitat in Camden, north London.This was first reported to
TESL in 1998 by Ester Wenman, then head keeper of reptiles at London Zoo.
Aesculapian snakes had apparently colonized the area during an experiment
reported by the British Herpetological Society Legal Officer, Peter Curry, who
was working there and keeping this species at the Inner London Education
Authority Centre for Life Studies at the time that it was closed down around 1986.
One account was that eight snakes had been released ‘on the quiet’ around the
time of closure to try to form a population, several of which were recaptured, but
some remained at large.Those caught initially were being euthanased but the view
was then taken to leave the others ‘to take their chances’ where they were. Ten
years later, in an aviary close to the embankment, fragments of juvenile Aesculapian
snakes were found in a laughing thrush Garrulax sp. aviary, suggesting that the
snakes had bred."
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JaySteel
Senior Member Joined: 07 May 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 157 |
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Yes, they would have to of remained undetected for a hundred years or so before breeding with the LEA released specimens. Highly unlikely, as you say.
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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I'd agree with Caleb (well, I would, wouldn't I, given that I co-authored the quote) - but wouldn't it be nice to prove their single-location origin with DNA swabs from any snakes found on the canal? Oh, of course, NE and ZSL aren't interested in doing the kind of study that CCW/WMZ are conducting in North Wales, worse luck
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JaySteel
Senior Member Joined: 07 May 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 157 |
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There must be some organisation that would be willing to fund this research for the London snake population?
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