I witnessed a very interesting bit of behavior today at the artificial den. I can’t really say what the snake was thinking, though it’s tempting to speculate.
A caretaker had to enter the small room that serves as access point for not only the den but also the other enclosures near it. He spoke with me briefly in full view of the den, and then entered the access room. One of the snakes glanced in the direction of the door a couple of times, without moving from where he was hanging out with two of the younger snakes.
Then things got interesting. The caretaker left the access room and walked away in the opposite direction from the den, so that his departure was not visible. From the den’s perspective, the access room would have gone suddenly quiet, but the snakes would not have seen him leave. Immediately, the snake who had noticed him earlier went to the door and stood up as tall as he could get, examining the whole door repeatedly and then settled back a little and stayed there, fully focused on the door for nearly fifteen minutes.
Finally, I went looking for the caretaker and told him he should come back, because someone was waiting for him. He returned with me and saw the snake still waiting. We again spoke briefly in full view of the den and the snake noticed him. The caretaker then left again, but this time, he left in the opposite direction, so that his departure was fully visible from the den. The snake left the door and went back to what he’d been doing before it all started.
What a smart little rascal!