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By Ethan Hatchett
A thriving longleaf pine savanna can conjure up photographs of gaping gopher tortoise burrows, red-cockaded woodpeckers feeding younger of their cavity nests excessive within the pines and colourful wildflowers carpeting the forest flooring. However one necessary resident of this forest could be simply neglected due to its quiet, secretive nature.
An japanese indigo in its pure habitat: the pine savanna (Berkeley Boone/DNR)
The japanese indigo snake is a nonvenomous, apex predator of the longleaf pine savanna. It’s North America’s longest native snake with adults stretching as much as 82 inches, or practically 7 ft lengthy. (The biggest on file topped 8 1/2 ft.) Indigo snakes have a black, thick physique with iridescent purple or blue highlights when seen in daylight. The snake’s chin and cheeks are normally purple or orange, a pointy distinction with its darkish physique.
Within the Southeast, indigo snakes are restricted to dry, pine-oak sandhills, which they normally share with gopher tortoises. These snakes use gopher tortoise burrows as shelter throughout the winter for nesting and refuge. Throughout hotter months, indigos disperse all through the sandhills and will transfer lengthy distances, usually foraging alongside wetland edges.
Breeding happens from November till April, and females usually lay 5-10 eggs throughout Could or June. Eggs are sometimes positioned within the moist sand of tortoise burrows. Females can retailer sperm for a minimum of 4 years for future fertilization. Males defend territories, and encounters with different males might end in fight and even cannibalism.
Indigo snakes are energetic solely throughout the day. Through the summer season they like wetland edges the place prey is ample, however they transfer to drier habitats within the winter. Indigo snakes are extra energetic in chilly climate than most different snakes. They recurrently feed on mammals, birds, frogs and different snakes, together with rattlesnakes and cottonmouths.
When cornered, indigos might flatten their heads, hiss and vibrate their tails, which produces a rattling sound. Regardless of these intimidating acts, sometimes called a bluff, they not often chew.
Because the variety of gopher tortoises has decreased, so has the variety of indigo snakes. These snakes rely upon tortoise burrows greater than another vertebrate burrow affiliate. It may be assumed that the properly documented discount within the abundance of gopher tortoises has doubtless affected the standing of the indigo.
The pure habitat of Georgia’s Coastal Plain has been drastically modified due to agricultural and silvicultural actions, forcing indigo snakes into smaller, remoted compartments of appropriate habitat. What was as soon as a wide-ranging species now should regularly cross roads to succeed in separated areas of appropriate habitat. Because of this, indigo snakes have develop into more and more weak to autos.
Many populations additionally had been depleted by assortment for the pet commerce earlier than the species was protected as threatened underneath the Endangered Species Act in 1978. And regardless of being unlawful, the continued apply of introducing gasoline down gopher tortoise burrows (“gassing”) to drive out japanese diamond-backed rattlesnakes ends in the loss of life of many burrow inhabitants, together with the indigo snake.
These threats and the snake’s standing have resulted within the japanese indigo snake being thought-about a high-priority species for conservation in Georgia’s State Wildlife Motion Plan.
Male japanese indigo in hand (Aubrey Pawlikowski/DNR)
This complete conservation technique, which is present process a periodic revision, lists 640 native animal and plant species as priorities for conserving statewide. The 150 conservation actions advisable within the plan focus restoration and safety efforts the place they’re most wanted and best.
DNR and others are working to preserve the indigo snake. Key websites are being restored by means of efforts akin to prescribed hearth. And in a research funded by DNR, The Orianne Society is researching what number of indigo snakes inhabit appropriate habitat in south Georgia. The research focuses on assessing the presence of the snakes on sandhills within the Altamaha, Alapaha and Satilla river drainages. Every survey season, a subset of websites is checked, with a complete of roughly 60 websites surveyed over three years. Throughout every winter survey season, websites are visited thrice and walked by a number of observers trying to find indigos.
The College of Georgia Marine Extension is conducting a telemetry research of indigos on state lands to analyze interactions between the snakes and translocated populations of gopher tortoises. Snakes had been captured on sandhill websites close to the populations and fitted with exterior radio transmitters to watch their actions. Whereas transmitters are normally implanted in snakes, attaching them externally is a much less invasive choice and one which reveals promise to be used in monitoring massive, uncommon snakes, akin to indigos.
Coinciding with The Orianne Society’s work, DNR has carried out a mark-recapture research of indigos on different lands for six years. In 2023, employees tagged 27 “new” indigos with PIT, or passive built-in transponder, tags and recaptured 25 people that had been tagged earlier than. Mark-recapture information can be used to uniquely determine particular person snakes and assist assess inhabitants estimates and developments. This effort is being continued in 2024.
The japanese indigo snake is an irreplaceable a part of Georgia’s panorama. As an apex predator, the snake performs a essential position in maintaining its ecosystem wholesome and balanced. Not solely is that this animal invaluable from an ecological viewpoint, it’s additionally one of the lovely animals within the state. There isn’t a different snake fairly just like the indigo.
Ethan Hatchett is a communications assistant in DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Part.
High: Japanese indigo snake resting on a log (Mark Krist)
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