"Dance of the Adders" 2020


A little later than I would of hoped, but here are a couple of photos and videos of our adders "dancing" this year. These are two of our males, Draco and Lucius, fighting or competing over a female. This fight displays itself in a rhythmic display of them intwining their bodies together, often raising the first third of their body off the ground, and trying to push each other away. The force of the interaction means they occasionally fling apart from each other but are unlikely to get hurt or injured. They never bite each other.

It is a beautiful thing to watch, and something I look forward to every year. Because of the motion and delicacy of it all it is often called the "dance of the adders".

Our adders finished "dancing" just over a week ago so here are a couple of video clips below. One brief, and one a little longer from a different angle and more close up. Also a couple more photos form this year... not much time to take any more I'm afraid due to the strange circumstances we find ourselves in, but at least some record shots.














from British Wildlife Centre ~ Keeper's Blog http://britishwildlifecentre.blogspot.com/2020/05/dance-of-adders-2020.html

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