Spooky striped snake

Striped snake (Thamnophis) has a mysterious sex life, in which males can secrete hormones like females to trick other males to mate with it to form mating balls with when all 100 other males join.

The strange phenomenon of dozens of male striped snakes wrapped around a male snake was first described by the University of Oregon scientists in 1985, but it took nearly 20 years for scientists to begin searching. came up with initial clues about this.

According to scientists, streaks are omnivores, eat worms, fish and toads, especially with hibernation practices . In harsh winter they often gather in the underground in caves. Each winter cave can even hold up to 50,000 snakes, usually about 20,000-30,000.

The mating season of snake stripes only starts in the spring when they are just wintering, their health is very weak. In this snake, snakes detect partners through sniffing hormones male and female . When mating usually takes place in a collective manner, many males wrap around a female to form a mating 'ball' .

A male striped snake is cold after hibernation (white than the others) secrete hormones that trick a bunch of other male snakes around to demand sex.

However, the strange thing is that male snake serpents are able to secrete both male and female sex hormones . In fact, males use pheromones to attract other male snakes to misinterpret it as females and wrap the relationship. Since then also formed sexual balls that attracted even up to 100 other males.

Finding a solution to the phenomenon, a team of researchers from the University of Sydney of Australia and Oregon State University of America in a work published in Nature magazine said the key to deciphering this abnormality is due to The main habit of living snake stripes.

Specifically, after hibernation they become weak, slow and cold. It is essential to survive that they need to be reheated as quickly as possible to move. So the male snake makes phernomone (the hormone that makes it smell like a female snake) to attract other males to wrap it up might help the snake absorb the warm air of other males. making it much healthier than male snakes that only release male hormones and act like a real male.

According to the researchers, the newly-hibernated male snakes use fake pheromones as female snakes to attract the attention of other male snakes to surround them that can be warmed up to 28 degrees Celsius. Works normally within 3 hours.

It should be noted that the "tricks" of secreting pheromones as female snake of male stripe snake to attract courtship, the relationship of the majority of other male snake only lasts a few days. "The male snake snakes made the snakes limited only on the first day or the first two days after the male snake awakened after eight months of hibernation ," the team said in the journal Nature.

Even some other studies have suggested that, because the mating season of the snake usually starts right after the end of hibernation, the disguise as a snake to trick the birth of other male snakes allows children Male snake stripes can easily mate with other females without many competitors. But this hypothesis is still controversial because it is still not enough to prove that male snakes do so and there is a mating advantage. In fact, cold snakes with a body temperature of 10 degrees C can still have normal sex after 5 hours leaving the dormant cave.

In addition, there are some doubts, it is the imitation of the snake to create mating balls that will help the snake to sleep in order to avoid the dangers of other predators such as crows. Because in fact, snake stripes are not capable of strong toxicity, when hibernating, they run very slowly.

Currently, scientists are still continuing to find out what the mock phenomenon in the mating season of striped snakes offers benefits for male snakes. According to Barry R. Sinervo, a scientist at the University of California, the principle of 'heat absorption and safety' is a fairly reasonable explanation in this case but will need to expand further research in Other species to reinforce conclusions for tighter.