Us island with lots of snakes6/4/2023 ![]() Our research team took a detailed look at how the snakes from Carnac Island have adapted to survive there. Myriad examples exist: from water fleas ( Daphnia) that can develop a spiky “helmet” in the presence of predators, to the tadpoles of some spadefoot toads ( Spea), which morph from omnivore to carnivore bodies when exposed to environments packed with small prey (including other tadpoles!). The secret is a process called “phenotypic plasticity”, which is a phenomenon where an organism physically changes its body within its own lifetime to match the environment it is experiencing. The heads of tiger snakes can evolve rapidly in response to feeding on large prey. Adult snakes have little else to eat on this island in order to survive and reproduce. These marooned tiger snakes are now adept at swallowing the large chicks of the seagulls that nest there. They were introduced here less than a century ago, possibly dumped by a travelling snake performer to avoid trouble with the law. The snakes in our study were from Carnac Island, a tiny islet off the coast of Perth in Western Australia. Most Australians are familiar with the tiger snake, one of our most iconic animals. In less than a century, these snakes evolved the ability to swallow whole seagull chicks, allowing them to survive on a tiny island. Our study, recently published in Evolutionary Biology, documents rapid evolution in tiger snakes ( Notechis scutatus). And this fast evolution isn’t just restricted to viruses and microbes. However, evolution can actually happen much faster, over only a few generations: think COVID-19 strains, for example. ![]() When we think of evolution, we tend to picture slow changes occurring over very long periods of time, typically millions of years. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |