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When cave - consist Cuban boas fancy a meal , they band together to trace for bats by concealing themselves along the cave entrance and forming a wall of deadly snakes before plunge their coordinated strike , according to a novel study on the rare happening of snakes run in packs .
Though ophidian are sociable , researchers have largely considered the reptiles to be only in their hunting and eating . But these fresh observation of the Cuban boas ' pack - hunting offer grounds that some snakes hunt in mathematical group . Of the 3,650snake speciesknown in the universe , only a few have been watch hunting in the natural state , harmonize to the scientist .
Researchers found that cave-dwelling Cuban boas will oordinate their hunts to increase their chances of catching prey.
And coordination among snakes to catch fair game has never been proved , say study author Vladimir Dinets , a professor of psychological science at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville , who specializes in animal behaviour . [ Shhh : A Gallery of Secretive Ground Snake ]
" It is potential that coordinate hunting is not rare among snake in the grass , but it will take a lot of very patient bailiwick research to find out , " Dinetssaid in a statement .
The Cuban boa is the largest native terrestrial predator in Cuba . Cuba is also home tobat - filled caves , where pocket-size group of boas will on a regular basis track down bat as they vanish in and out of the cave , accord to Dinets . He examine the snakes ' hunting style , which included hanging down from the cave ceiling to seize bat as they fly through the entrance .
When more than oneboawas hunt , Dinets discover the snakes coordinate their positions to more in effect pick up their prey .
" Snakes arriving to the hunting sphere were significantly more potential to position themselves in the part of the passageway where other Snake were already present , forming a ' fence ' across the passage and thus more efficaciously blocking the flight path of the fair game , significantly increasing hunt efficiency , " Dinets write in the study .
When a lone feather boa would strike , it sometimes go wrong to catch a squash racquet . The group hunts , however , were always successful , Dinets say .
The study ’s findings were published online Feb. 2 in the journal Animal Behavior and Cognition .
Original article onLive Science .
