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Posted by chrish on October 11, 2002 at 10:52:26:
In Reply to: good stuff Chrish posted by Dean Alessandrin on October 11, 2002 at 07:28:29:
If you don't mind my asking, what are your qualifications ?
What? Am I being carded? LOL.
I am currently trying to finish my PhD while I spend too much time teaching general bio at a local community college. I work on the population genetics of turtles, but am really a snake guy who works on turtles because that was the choice that presented itself at the time.
:I ask this b/c you sound like a professional. Are you working with TX indigos? I am very interested if you are collecting data on wild erebennus.
My experience with TX Indigos is mostly incidental contact with the species in my travels in S TX and NE Mexico. I really got to know the species best when working for the summer doing brush control surveys with some Range Science Grad students. I used to see them every day, even though I wasn't looking for them. Both species/taxa of indigos are desparately in need of some sound scientific investigation of their behavior, ecology, and status. I know the eastern is getting some attention at KSC, but I don't think anyone is working on TX snakes yet. I would love to be wrong about this! It frightens me to realize that there may well be a day in our lifetimes when the eastern indigo is extinct in the wild and the TX indigo is so rare as to be practically extinct.
:There IS some data supporting the fact that male indigos (easterns at least) are territorial. Combat between males has been documented many times. This in mind...I think it would be reasonable to assume that the bigger males (in general) get to mate with more females (bigger territories, and the fact that they WIN if there is competition for a female).
That is a very valid point. Snake species where there is male combat (and other vertebrate species as well) have larger males than females. As larger males are more likely to be succesful combatants, they get all the girls, thus driving selection towards larger male size. It may be that the species treads a delicate balance between size and aggression in males. Too small, the can't win the ritualized combat. Too big/aggressive, they pose a risk to the females.
