WHAT DO PREY DIVERSITY AND PREDATION CONTEXTS REVEAL ABOUT THE FEEDING STRATEGY OF Drymarchon corais?

Abstract

A snake’s dietary breadth depends not only on the taxonomic diversity of its prey but also on the circumstances in which prey are encountered, captured, and ingested. This essay examines what digestive contents, regurgitations, and direct observations of predation reveal about the feeding strategy of Drymarchon corais. The literature documents the consumption of anurans, lizards, amphisbaenians, snakes, birds, mammals, and eggs, as well as behaviors such as cavity inspection, seizure at different body regions, anchoring, pulling, compression, contortions, body rolling, dragging, and ingestion initiated from either the head or the tail. Digestive contents demonstrate dietary breadth, whereas field observations reveal a variable behavioral repertoire at the species level. Ophiophagy provides some of the most detailed observations but represents only part of the diet and does not characterize specialization. The consumption of toxic toads and venomous snakes confirms that these defenses do not necessarily prevent predation, but does not demonstrate physiological immunity. The diet of D. corais has both taxonomic and functional breadth associated with active foraging and a diverse repertoire of prey capture, restraint, and ingestion. This variation does not, by itself, demonstrate individual behavioral plasticity.