Female taipans not picky about partners
FEMALE taipans do not appear to be picky about their partners after a rare mating display by the venomous snakes has been recorded in the wild featuring multiple mates.
Cassowary Coast resident Grant Turner has described in great detail, in the latest issue of scientific journal North Queens
land Naturalist, the interactions between three coastal taipans he came across on the edge of a cane field near Silkwood.
The reproductive behaviour of coastal taipans, considered among the top three most venomous snakes in Australia, have not been largely studied in the wild.
What is known about their ecology has been determined from museum specimens, and individuals bred in captivity.
Writing in the journal about his encounter, Mr Turner said he was able to quietly stand within a few metres of the taipans, after he found them in late July, 2017.
Over a two-day period, he observed a female taipan mate with two males of the species.
At one point, Mr Turner wrote that one of the male snakes appeared “restless and alert” as it became entwined with the female, moving only very slightly.
“As it moved, its head was often seen to exhibit small vertical vibrations,” he said.
“It was also seen to exhibit sporadic involuntary-like twitching or jerking movements of the mid and posterior body and tail.”
Mr Turner said it was unusual that there was a large (2m) male snake that had mated with the female the previous day, still in the vicinity of the female and the other male.
He suggested that the display demonstrated polyandry (having more than one male partner) occurred in the species.
“There was no threat display or physical aggression shown by the large male, despite its obvious size advantage,” he said.