DOR Malpolon ?

You have a picture of an amphibian or reptile and do not know, what it is! Ask here

DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Robin Duborget » Sun May 24, 2015 8:34 pm

Hello guys,

I found this poor snake dead on the road near Nice, in France : I think that it is a Malpolon but I want to be sure.
photo(forum).jpg


I normally don't take pictures of dead herp' , but I take this one for an identification purpose of a species that I really to see (alive) !
It's not far from my work, so if it's this snake I will certainly return to this place in order to looking for an alive specimen.

Thanks,
Robin
User avatar
Robin Duborget
 
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:14 am
Hometown: Corte - Corsica
country: France

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Frédéric Seyffarth » Sun May 24, 2015 9:11 pm

Hello Robin,

Yes, it is a male Malpolon ...saddly often found DOR.
Frédéric Seyffarth
 
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:13 pm
Hometown: Husseren-Wesserling
country: France

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Robin Duborget » Mon May 25, 2015 8:08 pm

Thanks Frédéric.

Have you some advices for finding an alive specimen of this species ? I think I will search in the rough grasslands around but I'm a newbie in snake !

Robin
User avatar
Robin Duborget
 
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:14 am
Hometown: Corte - Corsica
country: France

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Mon May 25, 2015 9:14 pm

Robin Duborget wrote:Thanks Frédéric. Have you some advices for finding an alive specimen of this species ?
I think I will search in the rough grasslands around but I'm a newbie in snake !

One of the feasible ways is to surprise it: You see the tail, or the rear half of the animal, with its front part
being hidden behind a bush, you approach very gently & quietly, and grab it by the tail...
Or, you have the luck that a malpolon runs away from you but takes cover under a stone or something, and
you have seen where it disappeared, and the beast has no way to escape further... Lift the stone, or whatever
it is, and grab it. Your gloves on, of course... and long sleeves, if possible.
The third possibility is sheer luck, which (much to my frustration) usually occurs to utter "laypersons" - they
just come across a malpolon nicely stretched along their way, doing nothing, not fleeing, and the blessed
"idiot" makes an in situ photo which most of us could only dream of... I've seen photos like that, with utter
envy and "bitterness"... Why them, not me (us)?! But don't count on that possibility too much, unless you are
one of the "lucky idiots" yourself... which you are, most probably, not. You're a biologist, and they (we) usually
have to do it comme il faut, that is, the hard way...
Running after a fleeing malpolon is almost certainly a lost case - tried that only once, ending with a bleeding
elbow and a torn shirt - my best & dearest one for fieldherping... The elbow healed, but the poor shirt ended
it's lifetime on the island of Pag... And the malpolon was something like 1.5 meters... a beautiful greenish-gray
beast...
Berislav Horvatic
 
Posts: 1132
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:35 pm
Hometown: Zagreb
country: Croatia

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Frédéric Seyffarth » Mon May 25, 2015 10:04 pm

I must admit that Berislav gave you the truth about this species...hard to surprise in the wild. I made only one good picture without any handling on a nice wild female in Spain. Lot of luck!
If you have some time and be patient you can eventually find the retreat of a specimen and learn his habits. This snake is very territorial and is constant to his hide.
But most of the time, they see you before you even think about them...
Nice snake, intelligent snake, and so appealing!
Good luck...
Frédéric Seyffarth
 
Posts: 119
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:13 pm
Hometown: Husseren-Wesserling
country: France

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Mon May 25, 2015 11:17 pm

Frédéric Seyffarth wrote: This snake is very territorial and is constant to his hide.

Just a tiny bit of my "nitpicking" (once again...!), in the name of "Science": this snake keeps to a small home range,
which is, in (formal, official, hopefully also generally accepted (?!)) biological technical terminology, not the same
thing as being "territorial"... The latter is (or should be understood as) something quite else... a reserved term for
a rather different phenomenon in zoology... But, I do repeat (and humbly confess), I'm just "nitpicking"...
In any case, in the simplest words, they remain very true to their home sites, just like e. g. V. ammodytes does.

But most of the time, they see you before you even think about them... Nice snake, intelligent snake, and so appealing!
Good luck...

These are indeed much more important aspects of it, so, please pardon my "too pedantic intrusion" (which I couldn't
have helped, though...) Good luck with the "dragons"!
Berislav Horvatic
 
Posts: 1132
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:35 pm
Hometown: Zagreb
country: Croatia

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Tue May 26, 2015 7:38 am

Jeroen Speybroeck
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3161
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:18 am
Hometown: Merelbeke
country: Belgium

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Tue May 26, 2015 8:30 am

It sure is rare, but even a slow guy like me succeeded at chasing and catching an adult Malpolon 3x :D
One of them was heavy with a big meal, though, and another worked itself into trouble by trying to flee against a steep slope without hiding opportunity.
Jeroen Speybroeck
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3161
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:18 am
Hometown: Merelbeke
country: Belgium

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby miguel santos » Tue May 26, 2015 9:49 am

The third possibility is sheer luck, which (much to my frustration) usually occurs to utter "laypersons" - they
just come across a malpolon nicely stretched along their way, doing nothing, not fleeing, and the blessed
"idiot" makes an in situ photo which most of us could only dream of...


It happened once to me Berislav, I normally see them disappearing in the vegetation but once I was lucky to have one female crossing the path right in front of mee.
I was happy to have the camera ready.
Attachments
DSC_0056.JPG
North of Setubal Portugal
DSC_0057.JPG
miguel santos
 
Posts: 179
Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 4:23 pm
Hometown: maastricht
country: holland

Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Tue May 26, 2015 12:57 pm

It happened once to me Berislav, I normally see them disappearing in the vegetation but once I was lucky to have
one female crossing the path right in front of mee.
I was happy to have the camera ready.

The same happened to me, but I didn't have my camera ready, so the only possibility was to try the (almost) impossible
- chase it. It almost worked, since the snake decided to flee along the road (instead of just disappearing in the vegetation
left or right from it... have no idea why it didn't do that). Well, on an open road, an able running human is actually faster
than any snake, including a black mamba or a malpolon, so I managed to get within less than a meter of its tail. Then I
decided to just throw myself to the ground and grab it, whatever the costs (for a person of my age)... Unfortunately, I
slipped on the gravel of the unpaved road and fell on my elbow... some blood, some pain, a torn shirt (my best!)... and
the malpolon finally decided to disappear in the nearby vegetation. The end of story. No photo. Just blood, sweat, and
... no tears, but a lot of curses...
Berislav Horvatic
 
Posts: 1132
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:35 pm
Hometown: Zagreb
country: Croatia

Next

Return to Herp ID´s

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests