European cat snake
Encyclopedia
The European Cat Snake (Telescopus fallax) is a snake found in the Mediterranean and Caucasus regions. It occurs in Italy, Greece (Paros
, Antiparos
, Tourlos, Crete
, Kalymnos
, Samos
, Milos
, Corfu
), Albania, coastal Croatia (including some Adriatic islands), Herzegovina
, Montenegro, Macedonia, southern Bulgaria, Turkey, Malta, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, southern Russia (Caucasus, Dagestan
), Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
The snake is a venomous species, but it is considered no threat to humans because it is rear-fanged and does not possess the ability to deliver the venom
to humans, It can and does, however, use the grooved fang
s at the back of its upper jaw to inject venom sufficient to kill its principal prey.
and small lizards.
To kill its prey, the cat snake injects a sufficient amount of venom into its prey and will quite happily let its prey run away and die. The snake will just follow and find its prey by tasting the air around it and finding the path its dying prey took. It will then swallow the dead/paralyzed prey whole, headfirst.
Paros
Paros is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets...
, Antiparos
Antiparos
Antiparos is a small inhabited island in the southern Aegean, at the heart of the Cyclades, which is less than one nautical mile from Paros, the port to which it is connected with a local ferry...
, Tourlos, Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, Kalymnos
Kalymnos
Kalymnos, is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of Bodrum , between the islands of Kos and Leros : the latter is linked to it through a series of islets...
, Samos
Samoš
Samoš is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Kovačica municipality, in the South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 1,247 people .-See also:...
, Milos
Milos
Milos , is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete...
, Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
), Albania, coastal Croatia (including some Adriatic islands), Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
, Montenegro, Macedonia, southern Bulgaria, Turkey, Malta, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, southern Russia (Caucasus, Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
), Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
The snake is a venomous species, but it is considered no threat to humans because it is rear-fanged and does not possess the ability to deliver the venom
Venom
Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...
to humans, It can and does, however, use the grooved fang
Fang
Fang is a mammal's canine tooth.Fang may also refer to:* A snake's poison-injecting tooth: see snake venom* Fang people, in Central Africa* Fang language, spoken by Fang people...
s at the back of its upper jaw to inject venom sufficient to kill its principal prey.
Feeding
The European Cat Snake feeds mainly on geckosGeckOS
GeckOS is an experimental operating system for MOS 6502 and compatible processors. It offers some Unix-like functionality including preemptive multitasking, multithreading, semaphores, signals, binary relocation, TCP/IP networking via SLIP and a 6502 standard library.GeckOS includes native support...
and small lizards.
To kill its prey, the cat snake injects a sufficient amount of venom into its prey and will quite happily let its prey run away and die. The snake will just follow and find its prey by tasting the air around it and finding the path its dying prey took. It will then swallow the dead/paralyzed prey whole, headfirst.