Natrix-tesellata_6

Description:

Natrix tessellataDice SnakeSlo.: kobrankaDat.: Aug. 04. 2013Lat.: 46.35875 Long.: 13.70533Code: Bot_738/2013_IMG3814Habitat: mountain river bank with densely overgrown banks, dominant trees Salix eleagnos, Salix purpurea, Picea abies, Corylus avellana, Ostrya carprinifolia, calcareous ground, half shade, average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, river water temperature about 10-12 deg C, elevation 540 m (1.770 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Place: Lower Trenta valley, right bank of river Soa between villages Soa and Trenta, near homestead Skokar, Trenta 2, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC Comment: Natrix tessellate is a beautiful, nonvenomous and totally harmless 'water' snake, which can grow up to the length of 1.3 m (50 inches). Its only defense is spreading a bad smelling secretion from its cloaca and playing dead. When on dry land it is very efficiently hiding itself and thus hard to find. But when swimming in standing waters or river streams it loses all fear and can be easily approached. Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by "V" representing a vulnerable species.Ref.:(1) Fauna Europas, Bestimmungslexikon, George Westermann Velag, Brounschweig (1997), (translated to Slovenian), Mladinaka Knjiga, Ljubljana (1981), pp 305.