...Mal Graham; John J. Socha ABSTRACT Arboreal animals commonly use dynamic gap-crossing behaviors such as jumping. In snakes, however, most species studied to date only employ the quasi-static cantilever crawl, which involves a whole-body reach. One exception is the paradise tree snake ( Chrysopelea...

... freshwater amphibious species. All three species have relatively small and similar thresholds of dehydration (TH, approximately −4% loss of body mass) that elicit thirst and drinking of fresh water. These species have higher thirst sensitivity than several species of hydrophiine and laticaudine sea snakes...

...Derek J. Jurestovsky; Bruce C. Jayne; Henry C. Astley ABSTRACT Variation in joint shape and soft tissue can alter range of motion (ROM) and create trade-offs between stability and flexibility. The shape of the distinctive zygosphene–zygantrum joint of snake vertebrae has been hypothesized...

... response and impact the immunity of the South American rattlesnake ( Crotalus durissus ) when compared with a fluctuating thermal regime. We addressed this question by determining heterophil:lymphocyte (H:L) ratio, plasma bacteria-killing ability (BKA) and corticosterone (CORT) levels in snakes kept under...

... in these species the systemic and pulmonary mechanical vascular properties are similar. Snakes also display large organ plasticity and increased cardiac output in response to digestion, and we speculate how the vascular circuit would respond to this further stress. We addressed these questions by testing...

...) but the oxidative kinetics of these two macronutrient pools were quite different. We found that the snakes oxidized 5% of the protein and only 0.24% of the lipids in their meals within 14 days. Oxidation of the dietary proteins peaked 24 h after ingestion, at which point these proteins provided ∼90...

...Sanne Enok; Christopher Slay; Augusto S. Abe; James W. Hicks; Tobias Wang Interspecific allometric analyses indicate that mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) increases with body mass of snakes and mammals. In snakes, MAP increases in proportion to the increased distance between the heart...

...Christian Bech Christensen; Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard; Christian Brandt; Peter Teglberg Madsen SUMMARY Snakes lack both an outer ear and a tympanic middle ear, which in most tetrapods provide impedance matching between the air and inner ear fluids and hence improve pressure hearing in air. Snakes...

...Bruce C. Jayne ABSTRACT Synchronized electromyography and cinematography were used to determine the muscle activity of colubroid snakes during sidewinding and concertina locomotion. The primary muscles studied were the three largest, most superficial epaxial muscles: the Mm. semispinalis-spinalis...

...Harvey B. Lillywhite; Allan W. Smits ABSTRACT The lability of blood volume and its relationship to locomotor activity was investigated in two species of snakes Elaphe obsoleta , Say and Crotalus viridis , Rafinesque. Repetitive measurements of blood volume, determined from changes in the specific...