Malayan Kraits Bungarus candidus have been reported to bite humans during the night after entering dwellings. We report an observation of an adult krait feeding on a colubrid snake Chrysopelea ornata during the early morning, in the hallway of a large building at the center of a university campus in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of a wild B. candidus feeding within a building. This observation provides insight into why kraits enter human settlements, and since the event took place shortly after sunrise it also indicates that this nocturnal species can remain active during daylight when feeding. Further studies will be required to determine how often B. candidus forages among human structures.
Predator-prey interactions are fundamental drivers of population dynamics, yet rarely are both predator and prey species simultaneously studied. Despite being significant, widespread avian nest predators, research on the ecology of Southeast Asian snakes in relation to birds remains scarce. The green cat snake (Boiga cyanea) is a primary nest predator, responsible for ≈24% of forest songbird depredation in Northeast Thailand. We explored both diurnal and nocturnal movements of 14 (5 male, 9 female) adult B. cyanea with radio-telemetry for an average of 68 ± 16 days per individual, between 21 October 2017 and 8 June 2019 in the dry evergreen forest of the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve (SBR). We quantified area of space use (ha) and activity through motion variance (σm2) during the study period using dynamic Brownian bridge movement models, and linked our findings to a simultaneously-run avian nest monitoring study, initiated in 2013 within the same forest fragment. On average, movements, space use and activity differed between males and females, and between the avian nesting and non-nesting seasons. Males moved 51.37 m/day farther than females. They used areas 15.09 ha larger than females, and their activity was 3.91 σm2 higher than that of females. In general, individuals moved 50.30 m/day farther during the nesting season than the non-nesting season. The snakes used areas 9.84 ha larger during the nesting season than the non-nesting season, and their activity during the nesting season was 3.24 σm2 higher than that during the non-nesting season. All individuals were exclusively nocturnal, moving throughout the night, and often descending from higher diurnal refugia (>2 m) to forage closer to the ground after sunset. Boiga cyanea activity followed a similar trend to that of the recorded nest depredations at SBR. Our study links snake activity to nest depredations in SBR. Our openly-available data may yield further insight when combined with other major avian nest predator species like the congeneric invasive brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) on the island of Guam.
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