In the remote highlands of Cuba , snake pay heed from the ceiling of a cave lip in the hope of snag themselves a bat provide the roost . In fact , researchers have base thatCuban boas coordinate their huntingwith other Snake so as to maximize the prospect that they will catch a bat by line themselves up along the entering to the cave .
While the retentiveness of the sister iguana outrunning the race driver snakes fromPlanet Earth IIis probablyburnt into your creative thinker , only a few species of snakes have actually been observed hunting in groups like this . But coordination among not just snakes but all reptiles , in which individual will join forces to get food rather than hunt in a non - coordinated group , is rarer still .
Yet Vladimir Dinets found that with the hunting boas , coordinating in a group to trip up the bats as they left the cave drastically increased the prospect that they would get a meal that Nox . He found that the snakes spaced themselves out along the entrance to the cave ’s mouth – not unlike a animation , squirm bead curtain – to optimise the insurance coverage of the mammals ' only leakage , put out his solvent inAnimal Behavior and Cognition .
snake have been bump to take in this doings in a few different locations . BBC / YouTube
The more Snake there were , the more potential they were able-bodied to catch their prey , to such an extent that if they reached an optimum number spread out across the entering , forcing the bats to flee within spectacular aloofness of at least one snake , they were effectively guaranteed to catch a bat . This compared markedly to when one of the boas try out to go it alone , where it was found that they sometimes miscarry to get anything for their efforts .
This novel find of their cooperative nature , however , might have some disturbing consequences . The snakes are becoming increasingly rare in Cuba , and are now set up only in the most remote caves . This is thought to be because local have come out hunt them for food .
The researchers now think that as their numbers hang due to the overharvesting of the serpents , their coordinated hunt behavior could work against them , intend that even if a few of the Snake River manage to survive the onslaught from people , they may not be able to catch bats on their own and die out anyway .
Despite the snakes living in home parks , the scientists discourage that the sea poker are active even in these regions , threatening the future of the boas .
