Behavior
The Gopher snake has an odd defense mechanism, in which it will puff its body up and curl itself into the classic strike pose of the pit viper genus, but rather than an open mouthed strike, the gopher snake is known for striking with a closed mouth, using its blunt nose to "warn-off" possible predators. It will often also shake its tail to confuse predators into thinking it is a rattle snake. This works best when the snake is in dry leaves or gravel. It usually hunts its prey on land, but occasionally ventures out into ponds to hunt frogs.
Read more about this topic: Gopher Snake
Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“... two men could be just alike in all their dispositions to verbal behavior under all possible sensory stimulations, and yet the meanings or ideas expressed in their identically triggered and identically sounding utterances could diverge radically, for the two men, in a wide range of cases.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“To a first approximation, the intentional strategy consists of treating the object whose behavior you want to predict as a rational agent with beliefs and desires and other mental states exhibiting what Brentano and others call intentionality.”
—Daniel Clement Dennett (b. 1942)
“No one knows better than children how much they need the authority that protects, that sets the outer limits of behavior with known and prescribed consequences. As one little boy expressed it to his mother, “You care what I do.””
—Leontine Young (20th century)