>>>>>>Therefore the habit of the older, more "wily" snakes to retreat into the deepest, most inaccessible crevices can only be the result of natural selection brought on by human collectors, but not the result of predation.>>



>>ONLY?? That is pretty absolute for a hypothesis you just thought up in your head. Does not fit though with observations that large adults and especially the females are "wily" even in remote locations with no evidence of collection pressure. On the other hand, I have seen a lot of zonata with injuries and scarring no doubt from attacks they escaped.

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>>Rick Staub



You are correct. It is a hypothesis. It is also testable. One of the predictions is that in places where the habitat is inaccessible (and therefore not subject to human collecting), the snakes there should not be as "wily." Of course, you claim is that you have falsified my hypothesis because you see the same behavior in "remote locations." You are therefore equating a "remote" location with an inaccessible location. The fact that you were able to get there is also evidence that that location is not "inaccessible." Hence I am not convinced that you have falsified my hypothesis. Further, just because a location is remote does not necessarily mean that it has not been visited by collectors.



The fact that many wild zonata have injuries and scars is also evidence against aposematism and mimicry.



I believe your hypothesis is that the injuries and scars were incurred while the snakes were hiding within the rock crevices, and that the survivors of such attacks have learned through experience to retreat into deeper and more inaccessible crevices to escape predation. That may or may not be true. Perhaps you can provide more evidence to support that hypothesis. If the injuries were sustained while the snakes were out in the open, then your hypothesis would be disproven. Perhaps it was musk that enabled L. zonata to escape predation. Or perhaps it was its bite? L. zonata is known to bite when picked up in the wild. While the bite may not deter a human collector, it may be effective against some predators. A skunk that is bitten on the nose, for example, may let the snake go unharmed.

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