Micropechis ikaheka (Elapidae) in Papua, Indonesia: A Study of Diet and Cannibalism

Abstract

Snakes are primary predators in many terrestrial, aquatic, and marine communities. As predators, the lives of wild snakes are therefore closely related to feeding ecology. Feeding ecology is related not only to food availability but also to the body sizes of the predators and prey (Cundall and Greene, 2000). Studying the diet of a snake species is critical to our knowledge of the ecology of the snake at individual, population and community levels. Ecological studies of snake diets are also very important for a better understanding of the relationships between snakes and other organisms in the ecosystem (Su et al., 2005)