Leopard snake

The Leopard snake is found on the west coast of the Balkan Peninsula, mainland and island Greece (incl. Crete), Northern Macedonia, Southern Bulgaria. It is also found in Southern Italy, Sicily, Malta, the southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula and on the west coast of Turkey. In Bulgaria the species is found in the Petrich – Sandanski valley, in the Kresna gorge,  and around Sozopol. The locality near Asenovgrad has not been confirmed for about a century and it probably does not exist today (Red Data Book of Bulgaria, 2015).

The Leopard snake (Zamenis situla) is a non-venomous snake of medium size. It reaches a length of about 100 cm, in rare cases a little more. The species has an attractive coloration. The back is light grey or light beige, with transverse red spots with black edging. Sometimes the spots partially merge to form two longitudinal stripes. There are also specimens with two clearly distinguished, parallel red stripes with black edging. The head is light with a characteristic dark spot. There is a dark stripe from the back of the mouth to the parietal area. There is an arcuate black stripe in front of the eyes and a vertical dark spot under the eyes. The abdomen may be light with dark spots (or a longitudinal dark stripe) or dark grey – up to almost black. The species is mostly active at night. It feeds on small rodents and insectivorous mammals, which it usually catches in their underground shelters. It rarely feeds on newly hatched birds and lizards. The Leopard snake suffocates its victim by wrapping itself around it. Copulation is in May. Lays 2-5 eggs, most often in the first half of July. Sexual maturity occurs in the third or fourth year. It inhabits dry, warm terrains, mainly rocky and stony, with well-developed micro relief and transitional-Mediterranean grass vegetation and shrubs. In Bulgaria it is found up to about 650 m above sea level. But in other parts of its range is found up to 1 600 m above sea level (IUCN data).

Unknown.

The Leopard snake is a protected species included in Annexes 2 and 3 of the Biodiversity Act (BDA) and Annex II of the Bern Convention. The species is also included in Annex II and Annex IV of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (Habitats Directive). The Leopard snake is part of the Red Data Book of Bulgaria (2015) with category “Endangered” (EN) and also included in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species with category Least Concern (LC).

*Note: For the description of amphibians and reptiles is used information from: Golemanski, V. & al. (eds). 2015. Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Vol. 2. Animals. BAS & MoEW, Sofia [English ed.: ISBN 978-954-9746-22-8 (IBER – BAS), 978-954-8497-18-3 (MoEW)]; Biserkov, V. (Editor), 2007. A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Bulgaria. Sofia, Green Balkans, 196 pp.; the website of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).