Spitting cobras adjust their venom distribution to target distance
Spitting cobras adjust their venom distribution to target distance
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DOI：
10.1007/s00359-009-0451-6
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发表时间：
2009-08-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Westhoff, Guido
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Berthe, Ruben Andres;de Pury, Stephanie;Westhoff, Guido
如果受到人类的威胁，吐口水的眼镜蛇会通过向对手的面部喷射毒液来自卫。眼镜蛇头部的循环运动确保毒液分布在面部。为了确保毒液的最佳分布，头部运动的幅度应该随着目标距离的增加而减小。为了研究眼镜蛇（Naja pallida和N. nigricollis）根据目标距离调整吐痰行为，我们从不同距离诱导吐痰，并分析其吐痰模式。我们的研究结果表明，吐眼镜蛇的喷雾模式是不固定的。相反，蛇将其毒液分布与目标的大小相匹配，而与目标的距离无关。
If threatened by a human, spitting cobras defend themselves by ejecting their venom toward the face of the antagonist. Circulating head movements of the cobra ensure that the venom is distributed over the face. To assure an optimal distribution of the venom, the amplitudes of head movements should decrease with increasing target distance. To find out whether cobras (Naja pallida and N. nigricollis) adjust their spitting behavior according to target distance we induced spitting from different distances and analyzed their spitting patterns. Our results show that the spray pattern of spiting cobras is not fixed. Instead the snake matches its venom distribution to the size of the target independent of target distance.