毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭的机械通气救治6例

目的 探讨机械通气救治毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭的治疗效果。方法 用机械通气救治6例毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭患者。结果 气管内插管是最佳的气道开放方法;控制通气时,理想的参数为潮气量12ml/kg,通气频率20次／分,呼吸比1：2,吸氧浓度0. 4;辅助通气是,压力支持通气为0.3-1.5kPa,触发敏感度为－3mmH2D。气管插管者辅助通气4－6h后撤机及拔管可获得成功。结论 气管内插管及机械通气是救治毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭的最有效的方法。     

Apparent decoupling of prey recognition ability with prey availability in an insular snake population

Numerous studies on the feeding behavior of snakes have reported the consistency of tongue-flick responses with their natural diets. For representatives of widely distributed, dietary generalist species from particular localities, we can expect that their tongue-flick responses to potential prey unavailable in their original habitats have been reduced whereas those to prey common in the habitats have been enhanced. To test this hypothesis, intraspecific variation in tongue-flick responses to prey chemicals was examined using ingestively naive snakes (Elaphe quadrivirgata) from dietarily different populations: populations from the main Japanese island, where the snakes' diet predominantly consists of sympatric frogs, and from Mikura-jima Island, where no frogs occur and the snakes thus chiefly prey on lizards. We presented chemical stimuli from six items including those from their natural and potential prey (fish, frog, lizard, mouse, water, and cologne) to newborn snakes. Significant effects of stimuli on the tongue-flick responses were detected. On the other hand, effects of population and interaction between stimuli and population were not significant, and individual comparisons revealed no significant interlocality differences in responses to either frog or lizard chemicals. Thus, our hypothesis was not supported. However, in the Mikura-jima sample, significantly fewer snakes responded to frog chemicals than in the main island sample. The significance of the inconsistency between prey recognition ability and prey availability in the Mikura-jima population are discussed. Received: October 17, 2000 / Accepted: December 14, 2000     

从12S rRNA基因片段序列研究20种蛇的系统发生关系

本文测定了中国产蛇亚目20种蛇约800bp的mtDNA 12S rDNA基因片段序列。所测序列与楔齿蜥的同源序列一起经Clustal X1.8软件比对,共有881个位点,其中变异位点有494个。以楔齿蜥为外群,用NJ法构建了4科20种蛇的进化关系树,对这20种蛇的系统发生关系作了初步探讨。研究结果表明：所研究的4个科20种蛇分成4个支系。第一个支系包括蟒科的东方沙蟒和蟒2种蛇;第二个支系为蝰科3种蛇,即草原蝰、尖吻蝮、竹叶青组成一个单系群;眼镜蛇科的眼镜蛇和银环蛇构成第三个支系;游蛇科的13种蛇构成了第四个支系,其中灰鼠蛇、乌梢蛇和赤链蛇组成一个支系,锦蛇属的7种蛇组成一个单系群,然后它们与前一支系相聚。剩下的颈槽蛇属两种聚类后与赤链华游蛇构成一个支系,并与游蛇科其它蛇组成姐妹群。第四支系首先与第三支系眼镜蛇科聚类,第二支系蝰科构成了三、四支系眼镜蛇科和游蛇科的姐妹群,第一支系蟒科在系统树的最基部,为四个科中较原始的类群。     

‘Heaven’ for serpents? A mark–recapture study of tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) on Carnac Island,Western Australia

Abstract Animals resident on small islands provide excellent opportunities to carry out detailed mark–recapture studies. Populations are closed and ecosystems are often simpler than those of mainland sites. These factors enable the study of cryptic species that have otherwise been neglected. Snakes are notable for their secretive nature and, as a result, few natural populations have been accurately described through long‐term mark–recapture monitoring. A population of tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) was studied on Carnac Island, a small limestone island (16 ha) off the coast of Western Australia. Population estimates show that snake density is very high, with more than 20 adult snakes per ha. This equates to a biomass of more than 100 kg of a top predator concentrated in a very small area. Such a high predator density can be explained because adult snakes feed mainly on chicks of nesting birds that breed in large colonies on Carnac but forage elsewhere. Substantial annual growth rates in body size in most individuals suggest that food availability is high on Carnac. Growth rates decreased more sharply in adult females than in males, whereas annual changes in body mass were similar in both sexes, probably because of the high energetic costs of reproduction experienced by females. Surprisingly, the sex ratio was highly biased, with males largely outnumbering females.     

Short and chubby or long and slim? Food intake,growth and body condition in free‐ranging pythons

Abstract An animal's sex and body size can influence not only its rate of food consumption, but also the way in which it allocates the resultant energy among the competing demands of maintenance, growth, reproduction and storage. A 13‐year mark–recapture study of pythons (Liasis fuscus) in tropical Australia provides extensive data on these topics. Rates of food intake and growth were highest in small pythons, and decreased more rapidly with body size in males than in females. Allocation to storage (as measured by the snake's mass relative to its body length) showed a more complex pattern. Body condition was high at hatching, but dropped rapidly as energy was allocated to growth rather than storage. Condition then increased through juvenile life, was at a maximum close to maturation, and was higher in females than in conspecific males. Body condition thereafter decreased with increasing body length. These allocation ‘decisions’ reflect the relative advantages of growth versus energy storage at different body sizes. Hatchling snakes grow rapidly (and hence become thin) because greater body size enables the snake to ingest larger prey items. Adult females amass larger energy reserves than males, because they need reserves to produce the clutch. Large snakes become thinner because their feeding rates are low, and they cannot compensate with increased prey size because large‐bodied mammalian prey are rare in our study area.     

Outbreak of Mycobacterium marinum infection among captive snakes and bullfrogs

Since 1985 mycobacterial infection has been observed occasionally among snakes and bullfrogs housed in the Wisconsin exhibit at the Milwaukee Zoo. Prospective screening of animals was initiated in September 1990, after two cases occurred in March and June 1990. Overall, of 47 animals that were housed in the exhibit from 1981 through its closure in 1995, 15 (31.9%) were diagnosed with mycobacterial infection. That includes 10 cases (of 24 animals; 40% prevalence) that occurred during the final 5 years, when all animals were actively being screened for infection. Infection was documented by culture for seven animals, histology for four animals, and both histology and culture for four animals. Species determination of nine of the 10 isolates revealed Mycobacterium marinum. Genetic fingerprinting of the eight available isolates using pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) showed that six animals (five snakes and one bullfrog) were infected with the same strain of M. marinum (strain A) and two snakes were infected with a second strain (strain B). Deaths of animals infected with strain A spanned 1992–1995, and for strain B 1990–1992. It is postulated that possible routes of transmission were inhalation of infected aerosols or ingestion of contaminated food, water, or fomites. These data suggest that in closed systems the presence of mycobacterial infection in one animal significantly increases the risk of infection for all animals. Moreover, individual pathogenic strains may persist for prolonged periods of time. Zoo Biol 21:233–241, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Importance of fire in influencing the occurrence of snakes in an upland region of arid Australia

In arid Australia, changes to historic fire regimes may now produce more large‐scale wildfire events. The impacts of these fires on fauna communities are poorly known. We sought to test the impacts of fire on the occurrence of two arid‐zone snake species, the desert death adder (Acanthophis pyrrhus) and monk snake (Parasuta monachus), specialist inhabitants of hummock grassland and mulga shrubland, respectively. We also examined the influence of fire on the occurrence of a habitat generalist, the sympatric Stimson's python (Antaresia stimsoni). Under an Information‐Theoretic framework we modelled the occurrence of each species with a range of habitat variables, including fire history, using logistic regression. As predicted, the two habitat specialists were more likely to be encountered at locations that had a lower percentage of surrounding area burnt in the most recent wildfires (2002), while fire variables failed to predict the occurrence of the habitat generalist. Acanthophis pyrrhus, already predisposed to endangerment through a suite of life‐history characteristics, may be at increased risk through accidental and deliberate burning and fragmentation of old‐growth hummock grasslands. We stress the importance of prescribed burning and natural fire breaks in maintaining areas of old‐growth hummock grassland across the landscape.