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Impacts of Roads on the Mortality of Endemic Striped Narrow Headed Snake Xylophis perroteti (Family: Xenodermatidae) in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu

Palanisamy Santhoshkumar, Perumal Kannan

Abstract


Roads have become one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, particularly to snakes and other reptiles. We examined road mortality on endemic striped narrow headed snakes Xylophis perroteti in Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu State, Southern India. During a two-year survey period from January 2013 to December 2014, we observed a total of 134 individuals of Xylophis perroteti roadkills. Maximum road kills happened during the monsoon season (57.5%) and nearest Plantation areas (52%). There was no relationship between traffic intensity and road kill mortality (r = 0.32).

Keywords


endemic; Nilgiris; monsoon; road mortality; snakes and Xylophis perroteti

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2017-24-2-87-90

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