Large elapids and arboreality: the ecology of Jameson's green mamba (Dendroaspis jamesoni) in an Afrotropical forested region

Several aspects of the ecology of Jameson's green mamba Dendroaspis jameson i jamesoni (Traill, 1843), a large-sized arboreal elapid snake, are studied in southern Nigeria. This species is common and widespread in the region s tudied. On the basis of the analysis of both the habitats of capture of the various specimens and the results of a logistical regression model, it see ms that this species inhabits a wide variety of habitats (including seconda ry forest patches and the plantation-forest mosaic), and that its local dis tribution is not influenced by the presence of any macrohabitat parameter. Green mambas were observed both in the dry and in the wet season, without a ny statistical bias toward a particular season. Adult sex-ratio was approxi mately 1 : I. Males were significantly longer than females. All adult mamba dietary records involved warm-blooded prey (mainly birds), whereas young m ambas fed also upon lizards and toads. Nearly all the prey eaten by adult m ambas were arboreal, and thus there was no support for the recent hypothesi s that adult mambas develop an orientation to forage on terrestrial rodents . Male-male combats and matings were observed in December, January, and Feb ruary (dry season), and gravid females were collected in April, May, and Ju ne (wet season). Females produced 7-16 eggs (mean 10.9), and litter size wa s positively correlated with maternal length.