Preferred Habitat
It prefers heavily wooded areas and is known for having excellent climbing ability, including the ability to climb the trunk of large mature trees without the aid of branches. The black rat snake is a competent swimmer, but usually uses this ability only to travel to additional hunting territory. During winter, it hibernates in dens, often with copperheads and timber rattlesnakes. This association gave rise to the common name, pilot black snake, and the superstition that this nonvenomous species led the venomous ones to the den.
Read more about this topic: Pantherophis Obsoletus
Famous quotes containing the words preferred and/or habitat:
“At length he would call to let us know where he was waiting for us with his canoe, when, on account of the windings of the stream, we did not know where the shore was, but he did not call often enough, forgetting that we were not Indians.... This was not because he was unaccommodating, but a proof of superior manners. Indians like to get along with the least possible communication and ado. He was really paying us a great compliment all the while, thinking that we preferred a hint to a kick.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Nature is the mother and the habitat of man, even if sometimes a stepmother and an unfriendly home.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)