Pheromones and Garter Snakes
News | Monday, September 4, 2006

Snake pheromones are in the news lately thanks to their being a plot point in a certain ridiculous movie about reptiles in an airborne conveyance (my take on which is here); the Philadelphia Inquirer not only debunks the movie, it also talks about how male red-sided garter snakes use pheromones to confuse other males. Not only do they confuse the competition for females, but it also helps them warm up by having mating balls form around them.

Note: Online news sources frequently remove old stories, and links to stories sometimes expire after a short period of time. If the link to the news story in this entry no longer works, there’s nothing I can do about it.