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The Meaning of the Sound of Rattling By Rattlesnakes To California Ground Squirrels

The Meaning of the Sound of Rattling By Rattlesnakes To California Ground Squirrels THE MEANING OF THE SOUND OF RATTLING BY RATTLESNAKES TO CALIFORNIA GROUND SQUIRRELS by MATTHEW P. ROWE and DONALD H. OWINGS 1) (Ecology Graduate Group and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California, U.S.A..) (With 9 Figures) (Acc. 15-XI-1977) INTRODUCTION Northern Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis oreganus) and California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) maintain a complex relationship that is the product of two sets of factors. ( I ) Rattlesnakes are predators of young squirrels and use squirrel burrows for refuge and thermoregulation (FITCH, 1948, 1949). (2) The squirrels harass rattlesnakes as an antipredator defense (FITCH, 1948; OWINGS & Coss, 1977). During squirrel-snake interactions, both parties emit signals that may convey information of potential importance to the other. The squirrels, for example, may rush and kick sand at snakes, piloerect, and wave their tails. The snakes may move aggressively toward the squirrel, or may adopt coiled defensive postures, rattle, hiss and strike, or retreat. Since some of these encounters occur in dark burrows (FITCH, 1949; LINSDALE, 1946; anecdotes from ranchers), it should benefit the squirrels to be able to extract information about snakes through nonvisual modalities, such as olfaction (HENNESSY & OWINGS, 1978) and audition ?OWINGS, NVILLOTT, ROWE & http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Behaviour Brill

The Meaning of the Sound of Rattling By Rattlesnakes To California Ground Squirrels

Rowe, Matthew P.; Owings, Donald H.
Behaviour , Volume 66 (3-4): 16 – Jan 1, 1978
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0005-7959
eISSN
1568-539X
DOI
10.1163/156853978x00134
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE MEANING OF THE SOUND OF RATTLING BY RATTLESNAKES TO CALIFORNIA GROUND SQUIRRELS by MATTHEW P. ROWE and DONALD H. OWINGS 1) (Ecology Graduate Group and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California, U.S.A..) (With 9 Figures) (Acc. 15-XI-1977) INTRODUCTION Northern Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis oreganus) and California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) maintain a complex relationship that is the product of two sets of factors. ( I ) Rattlesnakes are predators of young squirrels and use squirrel burrows for refuge and thermoregulation (FITCH, 1948, 1949). (2) The squirrels harass rattlesnakes as an antipredator defense (FITCH, 1948; OWINGS & Coss, 1977). During squirrel-snake interactions, both parties emit signals that may convey information of potential importance to the other. The squirrels, for example, may rush and kick sand at snakes, piloerect, and wave their tails. The snakes may move aggressively toward the squirrel, or may adopt coiled defensive postures, rattle, hiss and strike, or retreat. Since some of these encounters occur in dark burrows (FITCH, 1949; LINSDALE, 1946; anecdotes from ranchers), it should benefit the squirrels to be able to extract information about snakes through nonvisual modalities, such as olfaction (HENNESSY & OWINGS, 1978) and audition ?OWINGS, NVILLOTT, ROWE &

Journal

Behaviour – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1978

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