Tangled skeins: a first report of non-captive mating behavior in the Southeast Asian Paradise Flying Snake (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae: Chrysopelea paradisi)

Abstract

We describe the courtship behavior of the Paradise Flying Snake, Chrysopelea paradisi, from a series of images taken near Sandakan, eastern Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. During the episode observed, four males moved together with a female in various states of entanglement, traveling at ground level and into a series of bushes. The observations took place over the course of a 30-min period until the snakes were lost to view. Our report is the first direct observation of mating behavior in C. paradisi in the wild and provides another rare glimpse of the multi-male courtship in Southeast Asian colubrids.