Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Heere, H.
1997
June 9 (continued)
we watch a 50-60cm Sinonatrix
trianguligera in water a few meters
from the deep end shore of the newt
pond; it crawls w/ head raised above
surface vegetation, often tongue flicking.
We catch a 3cm Polypedates leucostigma
and throw it from above, lands ~30cm
from the watersnake. The frog hops once,
and the snake dashes, chases across surface
for ~3m and catches the frog underwater!
For ~3 minutes we can see only movement
beneath surface vegetation and an
occasional out-poking frog foot or snout.
Then snake head emerges holding frog
at waist, swims 2m over surface
vegetation w/ the frog dangling and
seemingly immobile, and swallows
the frog bump first w/ ~20cm of
the snake actually up on the shore.
Finished at 2041Hrs, tongue flicks,
and crawls back into and under
water. At 2044Hm we throw down another
frog, which is seized at 2045:37, twice
jaw-walked over torso and then
initiated head-first ingestion at 2046:27,
finishes and tongue flicks at 2047:52,
goes under water and emerges heady,