Thamnophis sp. eating an adult yellow-legged frog in Yosemite National Park. Once disturbed, the snake regurgitated the frog (it had only swallowed one leg) and escaped. The frog was dead already.
Interesting that the frog was dead, even though the snake had swallowed only one leg. Do you think this was due to shock, or some toxin in the snake's saliva?
Thanks for posting this. Very interesting observation. The snake looks like T. elegans. Does that seem right to you?
Hey Jim. Thanks for the IDs and comment! Yes, I would say this is probably T. elegans but I didn't get a chance to count scales, so every now and then I've been told you can find sirtalis up in this part of the park, but I've never come across any myself. To me, it looked like the snake had been gnawing on the frog for quite a while when I found it, and might have been working hard for a while to find a way to swallow the frog, but I would guess too that those neurotoxins did the job. It was kind of sad because in this area in an entire day we only found a couple other adult frogs!
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Comments & Identifications
Interesting that the frog was dead, even though the snake had swallowed only one leg. Do you think this was due to shock, or some toxin in the snake's saliva?
Thanks for posting this. Very interesting observation. The snake looks like T. elegans. Does that seem right to you?
Jim
Hey Jim. Thanks for the IDs and comment! Yes, I would say this is probably T. elegans but I didn't get a chance to count scales, so every now and then I've been told you can find sirtalis up in this part of the park, but I've never come across any myself. To me, it looked like the snake had been gnawing on the frog for quite a while when I found it, and might have been working hard for a while to find a way to swallow the frog, but I would guess too that those neurotoxins did the job. It was kind of sad because in this area in an entire day we only found a couple other adult frogs!
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