Diel Activity and Spatial Use of Zoo-Housed Juvenile Amazon Basin Emerald Treeboas (Corallus batesii).

Abstract

Studies on captive individuals are highly informative to behavior of animals that can be difficult to observe in the wild. The Amazon Basin emerald treeboa (Corallus batesii) is a prime example, being both arboreal and nocturnal. The current study aimed to document the basic behavior and foraging style of juvenile C. batesii in logistically simpler captive conditions, by creating an activity budget and analyzing location preferences. Individuals spent the majority of the observations (88.2%) stationary, with 41.8% of their time interpreted as resting postures and 24.3% as hunting postures. Data available on other Corallus spp. suggest that juveniles are relatively active foragers, adopting more ambush strategies later as adults. Thus, C. batesii appears to differ from its best-studied congeners in using a high proportion of ambush strategies as juveniles. Nevertheless, movements between ambush postures were evident and juvenile C. batesii may be better described as a mixed forager. Our results do not support recognizing the juveniles as active foragers as in juveniles of other Corallus spp. Juvenile C. batesii displayed preferences for spatial locations in both resting and foraging behaviors.