THE KATIE AND JAMES LOVE STORY
This story begins with a lovely surprise! On January 4th 2011 there were huge floods happening in south and western Queensland but luckily I had made it back to my research area one week earlier and I was nowhere near a river! So this warm Tuesday evening saw me out hunting for reptiles from dusk til 11pm on my farm bike - with hardly any luck at all. The last hour had produced nothing more than a gecko and it was starting to cool down. As an afterthought I decided to check the run out to the bin pit and back and just as I got back to the quarters a long dark shape materialised in front of me... As soon as the motorbike light hit it, I saw the most beautiful site! A woma python! She sat there calmly - bathed in the headlight - as I stopped (nearly stalled) the bike, took off my helmet, did a little victory dance and song then reached for my camera. As she wasn’t going anywhere and there were no holes or logs near her, I could take my time and get some great ‘capture shots’. And that’s exactly what I did! There she was, stretched out in all her glory with my car and living quarters just visible in the background. Would you believe she was only 20m away from my front door?! I guessed she was a female straight away from her tail shape and this proved correct.
 |
| Finding a woma at my front door |
Implanting a transmitter into a snake is quite a big affair as you can imagine! Unfortunately snakes don’t have legs or tails or feathers etc. for attaching an external transmitter. Not only that, they periodically shed their skin, preventing anything from being glued to them. So in 1982 a pair of American researchers (Reinert and Cundall) came up with a method of inserting transmitters and their attached aerials into the bodies of snakes for long-term tracking studies. In the intervening 30 years the method has been tweaked and prodded but still follows the same concept set out by these researchers so many years ago. So Amber and Nicole arrived with a car-load of vet surgical gear to implant this very healthy 185cm long, 3.5kg woma python.
Firstly, all the gear was set out, the transmitter soaked in a sterile solution, and a surgical drape was placed on the 180cm x 120cm sturdy wooden dining table. Yep, I had a woma surgically implanted with a transmitter on my dining room table!
| Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital vet Amber implanting a radio transmitter into a woma python |
Next we weighed Katie in a cloth bag, and then Amber injected an anaesthetic into her tail vein to put her to sleep. It wasn’t too long before we had her stretched out on the table with a tube down her windpipe for inhaling anaesthetic from a machine, and a doppler monitor to check her heartbeat. Have you ever seen or heard a snake’s heart beat? That’s right - you can actually see it when they’re upside down and motionless! And it sounds very different to a human heartbeat – much slower!
As Katie was going deeper into anaesthesia, Nicole scrubbed her body where the transmitter would be implanted, and Amber prepped herself for surgery by scrubbing up in the kitchen sink then putting on a big drape, bandanna, surgical mask, and gloves. Is it was laying season, Amber palpated Katie’s body to see if she had eggs, but there were none. It was time to start the incision and there was surprisingly little blood!
Within 30 minutes the transmitter had been implanted and stitched to a rib to keep it in place and the 25cm filamentous aerial had been fed just under the skin towards Katie’s head end using a large needle. The muscles and tissues at the implantation site (2/3 of the way down her body) were stitched up and a stitch was placed where the needle had been inserted to feed the aerial through. A little tissue glue on the stitched wound and Amber was finished!
As the implant wound was stitched closed, Nicole took Katie off the anaesthetic and gave her 100% oxygen to breathe. We confirmed she was a female through gently probing and then implanted a PIT tag near her butt so we could ID her for years to come; even when this project is finished and the transmitter is removed. It wasn’t long until Katie took a breath for herself and Nicole could remove the breathing tube. Within another 30mins or so Katie was starting to move around so we put her back in her heated enclosure to let her recover quietly.
Amber and Nicole headed off the next day, only just making it back through Cunningham’s Gap before major floodwater water cut off all access to the coast. They were very lucky to make it home. This was the Monday before the ‘inland tsunami’ hit Toowoomba, Grantham and Murphy’s Creek.
| Releasing Katie by moonlight |
Well she didn’t go far! Over the next 2 days I tracked her in the buffel grass right next to the old meathouse – within 50m of the quarters - before she moved to a log pile about 100m away. Then onto a brief stay in a ground burrow system near a creek down the back before she settled for a while in the extensive ground burrow system 400m away. This system now appears to be her main home.
For the next 3 months, Katie wandered between the quarters and Danny and Peta’s place (the caretakers) – an area of about 2km2. Although one moonlit and very warm night I found her at midnight cruising well out of her normal range, but she had returned to her main area within a week. Was she hunting food? Or a mate? Hmmm...I wonder.
I must say that Katie has great taste in property - setting up camp with a lovely view across the creek to Danny and Pete’s house at one stage. Another time she set herself up in a burrow on a big dam wall with million-dollar sunset views. I think she has style!
On the 15th March between 10-11:15am I watched Katie catch, kill and eat an adult hare! As I was tracking her, I pinpointed her position to within 10m when suddenly there was a scream and an explosion of movement from that spot! I looked up in time to see a hare jumping away with Katie attached to its back leg and bouncing along (literally) for 30m! I was loaded up with all my tracking and safety gear so by the time I found them again and uncluttered myself, Katie had the hare in her coils and was killing it. There was still some movement from the hare and it was following my movements with its eyes. Eventually Katie killed it and then started eating it. Richie, Amber and Tom from Australia Zoo and the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital were out on holiday so I called them at the quarters using the satellite phone and told them what was happening. They came straight over to watch the show. Danny had heard me trying to call them on the radio and checked in to see what was happening. 5 minutes later Katie had the head of the hare down her throat and was eating with an audience of 5! So, so exciting! The best thing about this (apart from seeing a woma kill and eat a hare!!) is that it supports our idea that Katie has eaten a lot this past season, to grow large for breeding next season. Let’s hope so! An adult hare is a big meal!
 |
| Katie in a hollow log - one of many sightings early on |
What she did next really surprised me as she was such a calm snake when we had dealt with her previously. She sprayed uric (semi-liquid pee) all over my shirt, pants and hands! Then she bit me! That’s right! She launched herself up and bit my shirt next to my shoulder – a bit too close to my face for comfort! Luckily womas have small mouths and I was wearing a loose shirt. But then she did it again! All this time I was trying to find her wound site to check her stitches but she was squirming so much it was impossible.
It was after the second bite that the penny dropped – this wasn’t Katie! I couldn’t find the wound site because there wasn’t one! To be sure, I took this woma over to where I’d left the receiver and sure enough, there were no beeps! Just to be 100% certain, I bagged this woma up and tracked Katie 5m away underground! I was so excited!! Not only did I have woma number 7 (yes 7 by then!) but I had 2 big womas in the same burrow system! Imagine if it was a boy! Imagine if it was a girl!! That would probably be just as exciting!
 |
| 'Cranky pants' James - found at Katie's burrow |
So now I have a male and a female in the same burrow system and both of reproductive size! And to make things more exciting, Katie didn’t breed last summer because she lacked eggs in January, when females are known to lay in captivity. Yet Katie is a large and very good looking snake, with very few small scars. So we believe she may have only just reached maturity through growing really rapidly in this last season. It has been a very good year so this is quite feasible! And that meant that she was now shacked up with James at a time when the womas display mating behaviour in captivity! I told you it was exciting! With any luck Katie will be sitting on eggs whilst we track her this coming summer!
 |
| James disapearing down a burrow entry after being released |
The day after releasing James, I was really excited to find James and Katie curled up together in Katie’s home burrow system! Well, their signals were strongest within 50cm of each other from ground level anyway, which is a good sign! They were like this the following day as well! Very exciting! But the next time I tracked them (2 days later) Katie was in the same place, but James had moved to a burrow 255m away. Short and sweet? This was a bit disappointing as I have heard from researcher David Pearson over in WA that womas are often found paired in burrows over the winter so I had hoped James and Katie would stay together but it was not to be.
I tracked again 2 days later (26th April) and found Katie at the same burrow system and out basking early in the morning! This time it was definitely Katie J Unfortunately she saw me before I could move and took off into the burrow system. James was on the move when I tracked him just after lunch and he retreated to a burrow about 500m south of Katie before I found him. I can tell when the womas are moving as I’m tracking because the signal gets stronger and weaker as they go behind and over logs etc.
The next day I checked James position just after lunch again and he was a further 100m away from Katie in an extensive and deep ground burrow system. ‘Oh no’ I thought. ‘This could be where he sets up for the winter!’ I hoped not but it was a very deep system and therefore he would be able to escape the cold very well. Katie was still in her home burrow system that afternoon.
2 days later I did some early morning tracking and at 3:30am Katie was still in her home burrow system. However James had done something very interesting! Not only had he moved into a burrow system that Katie had used previously (about 400m away from her current position), but he was in the exact same position that she had been when she was using that burrow system! Interesting...is he following her home?
Now things get really interesting! Two mornings later I tracked the womas early again and Katie was in the burrow system that James had just been in but James was in the burrow system that Katie had just been in! I had to double, triple, and quadruple check the frequencies but there is no doubt I had it the right way! So has James returned from a hunting/loving foray to find Katie has gone out looking for him?? The plot thickens. I will update you on the progress of this ‘Romeo and Juliet’ pair as time goes on. Stay tuned!
Well two days later it was showery and Katie and James were still in the same burrows as previously, although this isn’t surprising seeing as it’s getting quite cool now. Will they find each other again before winter?
 |
| Big Bobby! 210cm long and very handsome |
It’s been another week and Big Bobby spent most of that time in Katie’s former burrow, Katie stayed in her new burrow and James stayed away in his favourite burrow as well (not far from Katie’s home burrow). However, this morning (16 May) Big Bobby had moved closer to Katie! She’s still in the same place but Big Bobby was down in a burrow system only 150m from her! It’s been warmer the last couple of days so chances are he could be following her scent trail! Let’s hope so. James is still hanging out 400m away – does he have another girl with him there?
Well Big Bobby and Katie both moved a little away from their burrows and a little closer to each other last time I tracked them - Oh, the anticipation!
They’re together! On 22 May I started to track Katie but decided to check Big Bobby’s position on the way to her. He sounded like he was in the same direction but I still wasn’t sure. I decided to stay on him and track him first. When I found him he was out basking in full sun! There was a burrow entry only 30cm from his head and as I sneaked around to get a good look at him I saw a brighter orange head poke out of the burrow in front of him! Yep, another woma! As soon as I moved to get a better look (I was behind shrubs) this woma got a fright and ducked straight back into the ground and disappeared. “Oh no!” I thought. “I’ve just missed another woma.” Then I realised that it just might be Katie! So I raced back over and punched Katie’s frequency into the receiver. “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.” It was very loud! I pinpointed the source and yes it was Katie and she had ducked 1m back into the burrow! So Big Bobby has finally caught up with her and hopefully they are making some lovely little baby womas right now!
Late last night (24 May) Big Bobby and Katie were curled up in the exact same spot in their burrow system. How exciting! Things are looking very promising for Katie to lay eggs this year! But who will be the dad – James, Big Bobby, or both?!
 |
| Gaillee - James' new (much smaller) girlfriend! |
 |
| Yakka skink - the species Gaillee regurgitated |
1 June 2011: Good news! Katie may not be with James or Big Bobby now but she is a whopping 3.6kg! That means she’s put on 600g since she was implanted in January – let’s hope some of that weight is in developing eggs! At the very least, she is in fantastic breeding condition.
Well it’s now the 25th June and the womas all seem to have settled in for the winter. I now have 12 womas that I am tracking – 7 males and 5 females! James and Gaillee are coiled up in the same burrow system but separated by about 5m. Apart from when Gaillee was first released back into the system, they have remained this far apart at each tracking. Katie moved back to the burrow system Big Bobby was in but she was about 10m away from him. I’m not sure if he knew she was back or not but they were only ‘together’ for one tracking session before he moved away and he has stayed there ever since. Katie is nice and warm and cosy in her burrow system and she shows no inclination to move. Big Bobby seems to have settled in a deep system for the winter too. It seems their love affair is over for this year.
I have some very exciting news as far as the other womas are concerned though. I was very lucky to find male woma DC on the move on the 6th March whilst I was racing between pit trapping sites on my motorbike. I tracked him for 2 ½ months before he lead me to a big male at one of his burrow sites ‘Toby’. A few days later whilst I was releasing Toby, I found another smaller male ‘Romeo’ at the same site! So I had 3 males in the one burrow system – there had to be a female there too! Over the next fortnight I spent every warm day stalking this particular burrow system to find the girl. Unfortunately the boys all dispersed out of the system one week after releasing Romeo but I thought there was still a chance of finding a female there so I kept stalking the site on sunny days.
 |
| Lola - one of 2 females found at a very popular burrow system! |
Well on the 3 June I had some luck – kind of. I found another woma at the burrow system but I thought it was a boy. Luckily when we implanted him though, he turned out to be a large female - Lola! And exactly one week later I found another mature female at this burrow system - Winnie! This gave us our goal quota of 12 womas to track this coming warm season – how exciting! I’ve also found another male at this very popular woma ground burrow system, but as we had no spare transmitters and excess males, he was only PIT tagged for identification and released an hour later. So that gives a grand total of 2 mature females and 4 mature males that have sheltered in this one very popular burrow system in less than a month during breeding season – now that’s exciting!! I wouldn’t be surprised if I find another woma or two at this system – it certainly seems to be a prime position!
Things are likely to be a little slower over winter as the womas hunker down and avoid the cold. Just a fortnight ago we had a cold snap where it got down to -4.5oC one morning and all the pipes froze. Luckily the womas are deep in their burrow systems though and this seems to give them ample protection from the cold. Stay tuned J
Here is a link to an ABC radio interview about the project conducted earlier this year:
http://bit.ly/mgJdMJ or
http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2011/05/tracking-snakes-with-melissa-bruton.html?site=southqld&program=southern_queensland_afternoons
And here's a link to a UQ media release on the project:
http://www.gpem.uq.edu.au/?page=156330&pid=143214
Here is a link to an ABC radio interview about the project conducted earlier this year:
http://bit.ly/mgJdMJ or
http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2011/05/tracking-snakes-with-melissa-bruton.html?site=southqld&program=southern_queensland_afternoons
And here's a link to a UQ media release on the project:
http://www.gpem.uq.edu.au/?page=156330&pid=143214
This is great Melissa! A fantastic way to communicate your research!!!!!
ReplyDeleteImplanting a transmitter into a snake; is this really the only way to do it?
ReplyDeleteI've just read an article where another researcher was feeding a python with a (dead) rat, that had a mini radio transmitter inside it.
So, from my understanding, even if the food is digested and defecated, the transmitter, would still be inside the snake, no?
Hey Ric, you are right that there are other ways to track snakes but they all have pretty major drawbacks. All snake tracking studies in recent history have used some sort of implantation method.
ReplyDeleteRick Shine started off with feeding red-bellies transmitters in rats years ago when tracking snakes was in it's pioneering days. This was great for a brief glimpse but the problems with this technique are that it's short term - up to a maximum of about 2 months before the transmitter is defaecated - and whilst the transmitter is in the stomach it suppresses the feeding stimulus of the snake, resulting in a loss of condition. I'm not aware of any recent studies that have fed transmitters to snakes.
There is another method for very large snakes and that is to insert the transmitter subcutaneously, rather then in the body cavity. But again, this is limited to snakes that are large enough to handle such a big lump under their skin (e.g. boa constrictors). Also, because the transmitter isn't anchored to the skeleton (we sutured the transmitter to a rib - standard procedure), it can migrate out of the skin and be lost, leaving an open wound.
A final technique that has been tried briefly was to glue the transmitter to the skin of the tail but as you can imagine this was very short lived as well (it would be lost as soon as the snake sheds).
I know implanting the transmitter into the body is an invasive technique and if there was a suitable alternative, we would use it, but it is the best option for the snake and it allows long term (1-2yrs) monitoring - something that is essential for understanding the annual patterns in the ecology of any snake species.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI've just put up the latest update with the floods.
DeleteI'm not sure about hatchlings and juvenile movements - I've found adults and juveniles in the same burrow before but whether the young ones stay and the others join them or whether they just happen to be in the same place at the same time is unclear. The snakes I'm tracking are all >130cm SVL.