The Herpetological Journal
The Herpetological Journal is the Society's prestigious quarterly scientific journal. Articles are listed in Biological Abstracts, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences,Current Contents, Science Citation Index, and Zoological Record.
ISSN 0268-0130
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pdf 01.Body size comparisons between wild and captive puff adders Bitis arietans
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Open Access
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33256/32.4.176182
pp.176-182
Authors: Daniel Kane & Christopher J. Michaels
Abstract: Captivity can provide a resource-rich environment for snakes which may lead to over-conditioning of individuals. We compared captive and wild populations of Bitis arietans to see if a difference in scaled mass index (SMI) existed between the samples. Male B. arietans had significantly higher SMI in captivity than in the wild; there was no difference between wild and captive females. A sex-related difference in SMI between wild male and female B. arietans, evident in the wild, was not found in captivity. These results suggest that the captive management of B.arietans may require review to prevent over-conditioning of male snakes, and that this may be informed by further comparative research on wild and captive populations of this species.
Keywords: Body condition, captivity, scaled mass index, Viperinae
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Please note that as from Volume 31 Number 1 (January 2021) on, the Herpetological Journal will be available as an online publication only - the last print edition will be Volume 30 Number 4.
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