Authors

D. J. Stevenson; M. R. Bolt; D. J. Smith; K. M. Enge; N. L. Hyslop; T. M. Norton;K. J. Dyer

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Southeast. Nat.

Keywords

Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology

Abstract

Prey items for the federally protected Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi) were compiled from published and gray literature, field observations, necropsies, dissection of museum specimens, and personal communications from reliable sources. One hundred and eighty-six records were obtained for 48 different prey species. Anurans, Gopher Tortoises, snakes, and rodents comprised ca. 85% of the prey items. Most records (n = 143) that mentioned size were from adult indigos; 17 were from juveniles. Prey records were collected from 1940-2008 and were available for all months of the year. These data confirm that Eastern Indigo Snakes eat a wide assortment of prey of varying sizes. This strategy allows D. couperi to potentially forage successfully in many different types of habitats and under fluctuating environmental conditions, a valuable trait for a top-level predator that requires a large home range.

Journal Title

Southeastern Naturalist

Volume

9

Issue/Number

1

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

1

Last Page

18

WOS Identifier

WOS:000276515100001

ISSN

1528-7092

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