>>What is the consensus for the reason for striking coloration of milksnakes? Is it that predators (like predatory birds) avoid red-ringed animals? Still seems strange for a secretive snake to have warning colors for diurnal birds.
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>>On the coloration note, here's what to wear when your wife wants you to do something..
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>>Mark

I think you may have answered your own question. LOL.

That camourflage suit you wear would have stood out if you were standing against the wall in the background.

The same is true of a tricolored kingsnake. Take it out of its natural habitat, and it looks striking. Because of that, many scientists have come up with the explanation that the tricolored kingsnake's striking coloration is some sort of warning to potential predators. It seems logical but there is one big problem with that explanation. The tricolored kingsnakes are docile animals and they are non-venomous. Who is scared of a tricolored kingsnake? To get around this problem, some scientists then claim, without any supporting evidence, that the tricolored kingsnake is some sort of mimic of the coral snakes, which are venomous. But that hypothesis is also problematic because many tricolors do not occur in the same area as the snakes that they supposedly mimic. To make things worse for the mimicry theorists, there is not one single observation available in the entire history of mankind to show that predators, upon seeing a tricolored kingsnake, will become so frightened that it will leave the snake alone and go away. Considering how many scientists, nature lovers, state and regional park employees, herpers, hikers, and other people who are outdoors every day and every year, it is simply ridiculous to think that predators will avoid eating a tricolored kingsnake but nobody has ever seen that. That is simply incredulous.

I don't spend a lot of time outdoors, and yet this year I saw a red-tailed hawk flew towards a large gopher snake. The hawk was all set to attack the snake but let the snake go because it was apparently too big for the hawk to risk attacking it. Either I am extremely lucky to see a predator avoid eating a snake, or the supporters of the mimicry theory are exremely unlucky not to observe a similar avoidance incidence. Sometimes, scientists would simply have to admit that if there is no empirical evidence to support a hypothesis after literally centuries of observation, then perhaps they should conclude that the mimicry hypothesis should be abandoned.

Further, scientists who have actually spent time in the field observing tricolored kingsnakes, such as R. G. Zweifel of the American Museum of Natural History, write that the tricolored kingsnakes are cryptic in their natural environment. So, what we have is direct evidence of crypsis, or camourflage coloration but no evidence of aposematism, or warning coloration. Yet those who believe in the mimicry theory will simply ignore observations by Zweifel and others, and continue to believe that tricolored kingsnakes are examples of aposematism and coral snake mimicry.

With the help of DNA evidence, we now know that the milk snakes L. triangulum, are descended from a mountain kingsnake. L. pyromelana is in fact likely to be the first tricolored species that evolved. It is a woodland and forest inhabitant. Quite simply, the tricolored coloration is adaptive in such habitats. Woodlands are littered with fallen leaves, and these are often reddish in color. Red is therefore rather cryptic in woodland habitats. We see evidence of this in other kinds of animals as well. Skinks that live in woodland habitats have blued tails, but skinks that live in grassland habitats have pink or red tails. That is because skinks are always ready to sacrifice their tails to avoid being eaten. The skink's tail is designed to attract the attention of predators. And it is apparent that skinks "know" that red and pink tails do not stand out in woodland habitats. Scientists are of course smarter than skinks, and they should know what skinks "know." Of course I am not suggesting that skinks are smarter than some scientists, but it is quite clear to me that some scientists sometimes do ignore facts. When one ignores facts, then it is easy to believe that tricolored kingsnakes are mimics and aposematic.

So in conclusion, tricolored kingsnakes are "striking" in coloration because they are camourflaged in their own habitat. They only look striking when they are removed from their environment. They look no more striking in their natural surroundings than you do with that outfit on your own couch.

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