Awesome snake!

The distinctions between black rats and grays have never been clear to me. Obviously the jet black Atlantic slope snakes are black rats, but where does anyone get off calling a darkish but well-patterned gray snake a black rat? Yet that is what those populations all across the heartland are called despite their clinal fade into the more traditionally-colored gray rats of the coastal plain. If the intergrade zone covers hundreds of miles, you're probably not dealing with valid subspecies.

My $0.02.

[ Hide Replies ]

• Tuscaloosa Alabama Grey Rat.... - FRoberts, Tue Jul 22 17:45:44 2008
• RE: Tuscaloosa Alabama Grey Rat.... - hermanbronsgeest, Wed Jul 23 02:29:34 2008
• Thanks and a question....Dwight Good - FRoberts, Wed Jul 23 04:24:03 2008
• RE: Thanks and a question....Dwight Good - batrachos, Wed Jul 23 08:55:14 2008
• RE: Tuscaloosa Alabama Grey Rat.... - BillyBoy, Wed Jul 23 07:25:20 2008
• Thanks n/p - FRoberts, Wed Jul 23 07:27:30 2008
• Gorgeous animal.... N/P - BillMcgElaphe, Fri Jul 25 08:51:35 2008
• Thanks Bill n/p - FRoberts, Fri Jul 25 16:17:50 2008