Road-Kills of Snakes in a Tropical Rainforest in the Central Amazon Basin, Brazil

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1 Road-Kills of Snakes in a Tropical Rainforest in the Central Amazon Basin, Brazil Author(s): Gleomar F. Maschio, Maria C. Santos-Costa, Ana L.C. Prudente Source: South American Journal of Herpetology, 11(1): Published By: Brazilian Society of Herpetology DOI: URL: BioOne ( is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne s Terms of Use, available at Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research.

2 2016 Brazilian Society of Herpetology Road-Kills of Snakes in a Tropical Rainforest in the Central Amazon Basin, Brazil Gleomar F. Maschio 1, *, Maria C. Santos-Costa 1, Ana L.C. Prudente 2 1 Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará. Rua Augusto Corrêa, 01, Guamá, CEP , Belém, PA, Brazil. 2 Departamento de Zoologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Avenida Perimetral, 1.901, Terra Firme, CEP , Belém, PA, Brazil. * Corresponding author. gleomarmaschio@gmail.com Abstract. We present results obtained from the record of 156 snake specimens belonging to 42 species, that were run over in a 50 km stretch of paved roads located in the Geólogo Pedro de Moura Operational Base in the Urucu oil field, municipality of Coari, state of Amazonas, Brazil. Of the total specimens collected, 61.54% belong to primarily terrestrial species, 16.03% are primarily arboreal, 10.89% are semi-arboreal, 7.69% are fossorial, and one specimen (0.64%) is aquatic. Just over half (57.05%) of the specimens are diurnal, 25.64% are nocturnal, and 12.82% are cathemeral. The vast majority (96%) of snakes were > 200 mm snout vent length. Aggregation zones were identified in localities where vehicle traffic is more intense, indicating that the highways are characterized as true physical barriers. We suggest that a collective effort is necessary to bring to light the ecological importance of snakes in the environment by conducting environmental education practices and trying to eliminate the myth that all snakes are dangerous to humans. Moreover, these practices should be applied jointly with programs that reduce speed on the roads, which can reduce the number of snake road-kills. Keywords. Dispersal barriers; Mitigation measures; Road mortality; Serpentes; Squamata. Resumo. Apresentamos aqui resultados obtidos a partir da análise de 156 espécimes, pertencentes a 42 espécies, coletados atropelados em um trecho de 50 quilômetros de uma rodovia pavimentada, localizada no Município de Coari, no Estado do Amazonas, Brasil. Do total de espécimes registrados, 61.54% são primariamente terrestres, 16.03% são primariamente arborícolas, 10.89% são semi-arborícolas, 7.69% são fossoriais e um espécime (0.64%) é aquático. Pouco mais da metade, ou seja, 57.05% dos espécimes apresentam hábito diurno, 25.64% são noturnos e 12.82% são tanto diurnos quanto noturnos. Quase a totalidade dos espécimes registrados (96%) apresentaram mais de 200 mm de comprimento. Foram identificadas zonas de agregação de atropelamentos, localizadas em trechos onde o tráfego de veículos é mais intenso, indicando que as rodovias são barreiras físicas para o movimento de dispersão das serpentes. É necessário que haja um esforço coletivo para levar o conhecimento aos leigos a importância ecológica das serpentes em seu ambiente natural, o que será possível através da realização de práticas de educação ambiental, além de desmistificar a crença de que todas as serpentes são perigosas para os seres humanos. Essas práticas devem ser aplicadas em conjunto com programas que reduzam a velocidade nas estradas, o que deverá minimizar o número de serpentes atropeladas. INTRODUCTION Roads have a fundamental role in modern society, providing connectivity between urban centers and access to remote rural areas for the extraction of natural resources (Forman et al., 2003). However, roads also constitute one of the most effective barriers to the dispersal of many animal species, given that they cross or run adjacent to many areas of natural habitat (Mader, 1984). The biological integrity of the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems found adjacent to roads suffers a range of negative impacts from both the construction and use of these highways (Trombulak and Frissell, 2000). These impacts include the mortality of animals resulting from collisions with moving vehicles (road-kill), behavioral modifications, alterations of the physical and chemical environment, dispersal of exotic species, and the increasing accessibility of remote areas to human populations (e.g., Forman, 2000; Haskell, 2000; Parendes and Jones, 2000; Gunderson et al., 2005). The effects of the construction and use of roads on local fauna has been the subject of an increasing number of studies, especially since the end of the 20th century (e.g., Fahrig and Rytwinski, 2009; Garriga et al., 2012). Trombulak and Frissell (2000) pointed out the risks of a serious decline in the populations of some vertebrate species that are especially vulnerable to collisions with motor vehicles. Important recent studies of the phenomenon include those of Barthelmess and Brooks (2010) on mammals, and Laurence et al. (2004) on birds. However, reptiles and amphibians appear to be the group most affected (Szerlag and McRobert, 2006; Glista et al., 2008, Garriga et al., 2012), as shown in recent studies of amphibians (e.g., Beebee, 2013), chelonians (e.g., Gibbs and Steen, 2005; Szerlag and McRobert, 2006), lizards (Lebboroni and Corti, 2006), and snakes (e.g., Borczyk, 2004; Gibson and Merkle, 2004; Andrews and Gibbons, 2005). Although the impacts of roads on vertebrate mortality are usually underestimated (González-Gallina et al., 2013; Teixeira et al., 2013a), it is evident that the most obvious effect of roads on local fauna is mortality from collisions or road-kills (Andrews, 1990). Lalo (1987) concluded that in the USA alone approximately one million vertebrates are killed on highways each day. Rosen and Submitted: 08 September 2015 Accepted: 06 April 2016 Handling Editor: Gabriel Costa doi: /SAJH D

3 Lowe (1994) estimated that 100 million snakes are killed on American roads each year, and that 5,500,000 reptiles and amphibians are killed annually on Australian highways. Similar levels of impact are thought to occur on the Brazilian highway system (Casella et al., 2006). A number of studies have been conducted in Brazil (e.g., Teixeira et al., 2013a, b), some of which have focused specifically on mammals (e.g., Pereira et al., 2006; Tumeleiro et al., 2006; Cherem et al., 2007) and birds (e.g., Valladares- Padua et al., 1995), and relatively few data have been published on amphibians and reptiles (e.g., Hartmann et al., 2011; Silva et al., 2011; Coelho et al., 2012; Teixeira et al., 2013a, b). Over the last decade, several studies were conducted, proposing several mitigation measures to try to reduce the number of road-kills, such as installing speed bumps, informational signs, passageways between habitats (such as tunnels and bridges) and even the construction of pits that prevent the crossing of snakes (e.g., Glista et al., 2009). Although some studies have shown that these measures are effective (e.g., Clevenger and Whalto, 2000), their success depends on the adequate definition of the precise locality where they will be set up, taking into account the taxonomic group studied and also the financial viability of the mitigation measure to be taken (Teixeira et al., 2013a). The present study focused on the effects on the local snake community of motor vehicle circulation on a road network inserted within a tropical forest matrix in the central Amazon basin. We also propose efficient mitigation measures to reduce the number of road-killed snakes in the region. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area The present study was conducted at the Geólogo Pedro de Moura Operational Base (GPMO; 04 53ʹ7.33ʺS, 65 20ʹ59.99ʺW), in the Urucu Oilfied, municipality of Coari, state of Amazonas, Brazil (Fig. 1). The Urucu River basin is located within the Juruá-Purus interfluvium and is characterized by an extensive lowland area with many swampy habitats interspersed with tracts of dry terra firme habitats. The basin s hydrography is characterized by an extensive network of rivers, creeks, streams, and springs (Lima et al., 2008). The region s climate is characterized by a mean annual precipitation of 2,234 mm, almost two-thirds of which (66.1%) falls during the rainy season from December May, with the remainder (33.9%) falling in the dry season from June November. Mean air temperatures over the course of the year are C. Soils are predominantly cambisols and ultisols, with oxisols and gleysols occurring in some areas (Teixeira et al., 2006). Figure 1. Location of the Geólogo Pedro de Moura Operational Base, municipality of Coari, state of Amazonas, Brazil. Dots indicate the locations of road-killed specimens (for points outside of the curve, see Data Collection). The star and polygon denote the location of lodgings at km 7 and km 15, respectively. 47

4 The Urucu petroleum field has a network of paved roads of ca. 120 km, where a large number of vehicles of all sizes (passenger vehicles, public transportation vehicles, and heavy vehicles for transportation of material) circulate daily. The main portion of the network is the road, which runs for 50 km between the Urucu airport, located at km 0, and the Porto Evandro operational base, located at km 57 (Fig. 1). Data on road-killed snakes Observations were made from , totaling 83 days of fieldwork. Data on road-killed snakes were obtained from the first 50 km of the airport road, using a motor vehicle moving at km/h, always using two observers (driver and passenger), during all days of the week in the morning (7:30 10:30 h), afternoon (14:00 17:00 h), and evening (19:00 22:00 h). It was possible to measure the snout vent length (SVL) of 88 run over snakes; other specimens were badly damaged. Measurements of specimens were taken with a ruler to the nearest 1 mm. As the road monitored in the present study is set within a matrix of undisturbed primary rainforest, no major differences in habitat quality exist along the roads. There are no quantitative data on the intensity of the traffic along the road, i.e., daily, monthly or annual rates. The microhabitats used by the snakes were divided into four categories, based on the classification of Martins and Oliveira (1999): aquatic, fossorial, terrestrial, and arboreal. Strüssmann s (2000) semi-arboreal subcategory was also considered. The definition of activity patterns and substrate use was based on the available data on Amazonian snakes published by a number of different authors (see Santos-Costa et al., 2015). The geographic coordinates of the site and the position on the road (km from start based on the vehicle s odometer) were recorded for 83 specimens. Records obtained off the road, with small differences caused by the low accuracy of the GPS were corrected by the system (see These specimens, together with the ones with no location data, were used to estimate the total number of snakes killed on the road. To determine the occurrence of road-kill aggregations (using only the 83 records with coordinates) in the stretch intervals analyzed, we used the modified Ripley s K statistic (see Coelho et al., 2008), using the Siriema v1.0 (Coelho et al., 2014). Ripley s K statistic is used to evaluate the dispersion of events at different spatial scales (Levine, 2000; Clevenger et al., 2003). For this we defined a radius of 500 m and, to assess the significance of the possible aggregations, we subtracted the value of K observed from the average obtained in 1,000 randomizations of the road-kill distribution for each scale. Values above the 48 confidence limit (95%) obtained from the simulations indicate scales with significant aggregations (Levine, 2000). To locate the stretches with high mortality rates (aggregations), the 2D HotSpot Identification Analysis in the Siriema v1.0 program (as in Coelho et al., 2012) was used. In this analysis, the road was divided into m segments. A circle of radius r of 500 m was centered at the midpoint of the first segment and a sum of all the values assigned to each road-kill event at an interval of 50 km was obtained. A correction factor that takes into account the length of the highway analyzed within the circle in that position was multiplied by this number. The circle was centered in the middle of the next segment and was the sum of events again computed and then multiplied by the correction factor. The procedure was repeated for all segments, resulting in a road-kill aggregation intensity value for each segment of highway. Only specimens that had the coordinates of the snake encounter were used in these analyses. RESULTS A total of 156 road-killed specimens were recorded, belonging to 42 species. With regard to microhabitat use of the road-killed specimens, 61.54% (n = 96; 26 species) belonged to primarily terrestrial species, 16.03% (n = 25; 7 species) were primarily arboreal, 10.89% (n = 17; 3 species) were semi-arboreal, 7.69% (n = 12; 5 species) were fossorial, and one specimen (0.64%) was aquatic. Five of the specimens (3.21%) were too badly damaged to identify the genus and, thus, could not be classified. Just over half (57.05%, n = 89; 21 species) of the specimens were diurnal, 25.64% (n = 40; 13 species) were nocturnal, and 12.82% (n = 20; 7 species) were cathemeral. We were unable to obtain information for two specimens regarding their activity pattern (Table 1). Ninety-six percent of the measured specimens were > 200 mm SVL. The percentage of road-killed specimens between km 0 km 25 was 79.55% (specimens with recorded coordinates; Fig. 2). The results of Ripley s K Analyses indicated two aggregation points (hotspots) of road-kills, one located between km 5 km 7 and another between km 11 km 12 (Fig. 3). DISCUSSION A series of intrinsic (life-history traits related to sex, age, reproductive status, and ecology) and extrinsic (such as temperature, precipitation, and exposure to sunlight) factors might influence the movements of snakes and, in turn, their probability of being involved in collisions (Jochimsen, 2006; Shepard et al., 2008). The results of the present study indicate that terrestrial species are more vulnerable to being killed on the roads, possibly directly

5 Table 1. General list of snakes recorded in the Geólogo Pedro de Moura Operational Base (GPMO; Prudente et al. 2010), with information on microhabitat and activity patterns as well as road-killed species recorded in the GPMO, municipality of Coari, Brazil. Taxon Microhabitat Activity patterns No. road-kills Amerotyphlops brongersmianus (Vanzolini, 1976) Fossorial Diurnal 0 Anilius scytale (Linnaeus, 1758) Fossorial Nocturnal 1 Atractus alphonsehogei Cunha and Nascimento, 1983 Fossorial Cathemeral 0 Atractus latifrons (Günther, 1868) Fossorial Cathemeral 7 Atractus schach (Boie, 1827) Fossorial Cathemeral 1 Atractus torquatus (Duméril, Bibron and Duméril, 1854) Fossorial Cathemeral 1 Atractus sp. Fossorial Not determined 2 Boa constrictor Linnaeus, 1758 Terrestrial Nocturnal 4 Bothrops atrox (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Nocturnal 2 Bothrops bilineatus (Wied, 1821) Arboreal Nocturnal 0 Chironius exoletus (Linnaeus, 1758) Semi-arboreal Cathemeral 0 Chironius fuscus (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Diurnal 8 Chironius multiventris Schmidt and Walker, 1943 Semi-arboreal Diurnal 5 Chironius scurrulus (Wagler, 1824) Terrestrial Diurnal 5 Clelia clelia (Daudin, 1803) Terrestrial Diurnal 2 Corallus batesii (Gray, 1860) Arboreal Nocturnal 0 Corallus hortulanus (Linnaeus, 1758) Arboreal Nocturnal 8 Dendrophidion dendrophis (Schlegel, 1837) Terrestrial Diurnal 0 Dipsas catesbyi (Sentzen, 1796) Semi-arboreal Nocturnal 1 Drepanoides anomalus (Jan, 1863) Terrestrial Nocturnal 2 Drymoluber dichrous (Peters, 1863) Terrestrial Diurnal 1 Epicrates cenchria (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Cathemeral 5 Erythrolamprus aesculapii (Linnaes, 1766) Terrestrial Diurnal 1 Erythrolamprus reginae (Wagler, 1824) Terrestrial Diurnal 21 Erythrolamprus typhlus (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Diurnal 8 Helicops angulatus (Linnaeus, 1758) Aquatic Diurnal 1 Hydrops martii (Wagler, 1824) Aquatic Nocturnal 0 Hydrops triangularis (Wagler, 1824) Aquatic Nocturnal 0 Imantodes cenchoa (Linnaeus, 1758) Arboreal Nocturnal 2 Imantodes lentiferus (Cope, 1894) Arboreal Nocturnal 1 Lachesis muta (Linnaeus, 1766) Terrestrial Nocturnal 1 Leptodeira annulata (Linnaeus, 1758) Semi-arboreal Nocturnal 11 Leptophis ahaetulla (Linnaeus, 1758) Arboreal Diurnal 4 Micrurus hemprichii (Jan, 1858) Terrestrial Cathemeral 2 Micrurus langsdorffi Wagler, 1824 Terrestrial Cathemeral 0 Micrurus lemniscatus (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Cathemeral 0 Micrurus spixii Wagler, 1824 Terrestrial Cathemeral 2 Oxybelis fulgidus (Daudin, 1803) Arboreal Diurnal 5 Oxyrhopus formosus (Wied, 1820) Terrestrial Diurnal 1 Oxyrhopus melanogenys (Tschudi, 1845) Terrestrial Cathemeral 2 Oxyrhopus petolarius (Reuss, 1834) Terrestrial Diurnal 1 Philodryas georgeboulengeri (Procter, 1923) Arboreal Diurnal 4 Philodryas viridissima (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Diurnal 6 Phrynonax poecilonotus (Günther, 1858) Terrestrial Diurnal 2 Pseudoboa coronata Schneider, 1801 Terrestrial Nocturnal 5 Pseudoboa newiedii (Duméril, Bibron and Duméril, 1854) Terrestrial Cathemeral 0 Rhinobothryum lentiginosum (Scopoli, 1785) Arboreal Nocturnal 0 Siphlophis cervinus (Laurenti, 1768) Arboreal Nocturnal 1 Siphlophis compressus (Daudin, 1803) Terrestrial Nocturnal 1 Spilotes pullatus (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Diurnal 4 Spilotes sulphureus (Wagler, 1824) Terrestrial Diurnal 5 Taeniophallus brevirostris (Peters, 1863) Terrestrial Diurnal 3 Taeniophallus occipitalis (Jan, 1863) Terrestrial Diurnal 0 Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Diurnal 1 Xenodon rabdocephalus (Wied, 1824) Terrestrial Diurnal 1 Xenodon severus (Linnaeus, 1758) Terrestrial Diurnal 0 Xenopholis scalaris (Wucherer, 1861) Terrestrial Diurnal 0 Snakes unidentified TOTAL SPECIES IN GPMO 57 TOTAL ROAD-KILLED SPECIES IN GPMO 42 TOTAL ROAD-KILLED SPECIMENS IN GPMO

6 Figure 2. Number of road-killed species from km 0 km 25 and km 26 km 50 in the Geólogo Pedro de Moura Operational Base, municipality of Coari, Brazil. related to their need to forage on this substrate. Of the 33 primarily terrestrial species known to occur in the study area, only seven (Dendrophidion dendrophis, Micrurus langsdorffi, M. lemniscatus, Pseudoboa neuwiedii, Taeniophallus occipitalis, Xenodon severus, and Xenopholis scalaris) were not recorded during active vehicular searches and, of these, D. dendrophis, M. lemniscatus and P. neuwiedii have all been observed crossing roads, both paved and unpaved, in other regions of the Amazon basin (Martins and Oliveira, 1999; Gleomar Maschio, pers. obs.). The large number of terrestrial species dead on the road network reflects their need to move through the environment, and to cross artificial barriers in order to disperse or escape from unfavorable circumstances (Shine et al., 2004; Andrews and Gibbons, 2005; Maschio et al., 2009). Snakes may often need to leave their primary habitats and cross either natural barriers, such as large bodies of water, or artificial ones, such as roads, where they may be more vulnerable to mortality. This may explain the mortality recorded in the present study of such wellknown arboreal species as Imantodes cenchoa, I. lentiferus, Leptophis ahaetulla, and Philodryas georgeboulengeri. It seems likely that the need to disperse was the primary factor determining this behavior, as proposed by Maschio et al. (2009). The compaction of the soil restricts the movement of fossorial species in the subsoil (Martins and Oliveira, 1999), and this process may be accentuated in the vicinity of roads, forcing species such as Anilius scytale, Atractus latifrons, A. schach, and A. torquatus to emerge from the ground, making them vulnerable to traffic. This conclusion is reinforced by the collection during the present study of 23 specimens of Amphisbaena fuliginosa, a species highly adapted for a fossorial lifestyle (Hoffstetter and Gasc, 1975; Navas et al., 2004). Of the three aquatic species known to occur in the study area, only Helicops angulatus was observed as roadkill, although the location of the collision is not known. It nevertheless seems likely that the specimen was close to a forest creek, which are abundant throughout the study area. This species inhabits aquatic environments of all types, from small pools to large bodies of water, such as rivers and bays, and may also forage on dry land, albeit in close proximity to water (Martins and Oliveira, 1999; Gleomar Maschio, pers. obs.). Depending on the methodological procedures used (e.g., speeds > 40 km/h to collect trampled specimens) it is likely that the record of small vertebrates killed on the roads is underestimated due to difficulties in detection (Puky, 2006). Therefore, to reduce the possibility of failure in the detection of small animals, our sampling were performed by observers in a vehicle traveling at low speed (< 40 km/h), although this does not totally prevent a subsampling, according Garriga et al. (2012). The low incidence of specimens with SVL less than 200 mm recorded in this study, may have been caused by the failure of perception of small species, such as Amerotyphlops brongersmianus, Atractus alphonsehogei and Taeniophallus occipitalis, without record, or Atractus schach, A. torquatus and Tantilla melanocephala, with low running over rate. The identification of two road-kill hotspots between km 0 km 7 and km 11 km 12, of the analyzed highway, coincides with the stretch with most traffic along that route. It is a stretch where traffic flow is higher due to the need to transport workers who arrive at the airport (km 0) daily and are taken to the lodgings (km 7 and km 15; see Fig. 1) and, also, that leave the base daily, following the reverse route. This result corroborates Lebboroni and Corti (2006), who observed that traffic has a variety of effects on wildlife, and that road-kill is one of the principal causes of mortality for many vertebrate species. They also Figure 3. Road-kill intensity of aggregations (in red) in the Geólogo Pedro de Moura Operational Base, municipality of Coari, Brazil. 50

7 found that the number of cases tends to decrease along roads with less intense traffic, supporting the hypothesis that the road network has a direct and negative effect on the local snake community. In this case, the barrier is the vehicle itself, which collides with the snake, and prevents it from reaching the opposite side of the road. Far fewer snakes were killed in the sector with the least intense flow of traffic, indicating that a much higher proportion of animals manage to cross the road. Counting the number of snakes that cross the road is an almost impossible task, but it seems reasonable to conclude that roads only represent an effective barrier to snakes when traffic is intense. The number of specimens killed on the road where traffic is less intense may decrease by as much as 80%, based on the comparison between the two main sectors of the airport road monitored in the present study. The use of speed bumps is one of the most mitigating measures used to reduce road-kills (e.g., Jones et al., 2000), since there is a direct relationship between a greater number of road-kills with the high speed of vehicles (Hobday and Minstrell, 2008). This measure is effective mainly for those species that move quickly, but in the case of snakes, due to their characteristically slow locomotive behavior (Rudolph et al., 1999) even in areas where the speed limit of 40 km is widely respected (this study), the use of this measure alone does not substantially decrease the number of roadkill accidents. Encouraging the general population to accept conservation programs for snakes is much harder than those made for other vertebrate groups, due to the bad reputation that snakes have in various regions of the world. They are so hated that a rational speech in favor of their conservation becomes insufficient (Burghardt et al., 2009). In most regions of Brazil, the situation is no different, and this is mainly due to lack of knowledge of the general population, who see snakes as dangerous animals. This enhances the conflict between humans and snakes (Cardoso et al., 2003; Argôlo, 2004; Moura et al., 2010), which are usually killed with the justification that they invariably bring danger to humans (see Moura et al., 2010). Some drivers, for example, were caught deviating from their normal route to target snakes crossing the roads (e.g., Rudolph et al., 1999). With this in mind, mitigation measures should take into account this misconception the general population has in relation to snakes. Thus, environmental education practices carried out with the local population should be an alternative so that the population can be properly educated about the importance of snakes in the environment, bringing to light knowledge of the actual role of this group of vertebrates. Allied to this, measures involving speed bumps, especially on the road-kill hotspots identified, and ongoing monitoring programs, taking into account the spatial and temporal patterns of the road-kills (see Teixeira et al., 2013b), should indeed be encouraged and put into practice. Only after these actions, applied together, will there be a substantial reduction in the number of road-kills of snakes. Documented declines in snake populations of make it essential to identify approaches that could somehow improve the recruitment of several species of snakes, and these approaches go beyond habitat protection (Kingsbury and Attum, 2009). Examples include: habitat restoration, analysis of different ways to improve the reproductive success of the species and even the manipulation of animal populations themselves (Kingsbury and Attum, 2009). It is important to be aware that these measures may be efficient in landscapes crossed by highways; the most significant barriers for dispersal of animal life, as well as being responsible for the deaths of millions of reptiles each year (see Lalo, 1987; Rosen and Lowe, 1994; Casella et al., 2006). A combination of the above approaches with environmental education activities that emphasize the role and importance of snakes and instruct those who still consider them indiscriminately harmful (see Moura et al., 2010), should be considered as a priority with local communities. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Universidade Federal do Pará, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. for their support in completing this project, developed in the region of Urucu, as part of the project Dinâmica de Clareiras Sob Impacto da Exploração Petrolífera, Rede CTPETRO Amazônia. 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