For Lordy.


For Lordy.

Dugite snake - the only snake found on Rottnest Island. This one posed for us for several minutes, and then slithered off up the cliff.

Pretty much each island with snakes off the coast of WA has a single species. Carnak Is, just south of Rottnest only has Tiger snakes, for example.

Comments

  1. Is that primarily due to isolation or to the various species not playing well with others?

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  2. A bit of both I think.  Alicia Smith ?

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  3. I thought I read a post saying there were loads of snakes on Rotto? Maybe we should snare a few other dugites and take him some mates.

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  4. Last I heard it was mainly because they didn't play well with each other but the factors governing species on islands are complex naturey-waturey interactions...

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  5. "Naturey-waturey" just became my new favourite phrase!

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  6. Well, they compete with each other for scare prey in a limited ecological niche. I've never read anything about cross species combat but whichever species starts out with an advantage will usually end up dominating the niche. Tiger snakes often dominate in scenarios where there is only a limited season of food availability in the whole year (usually nesting birds) see studies of the Bass Strait islands. Which would fit for Carnac island.

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  7. Yes, I wouldn't have thought of it as a case of cross species combat, more a gradual attrition. The other thing, with tiger snakes is that they have a great temperature tolerance than dugites so can be more active in and tolerant of weather that has dugites resting.

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  8. Rob Masters 
    Thanks mate.. much appreciated.

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