First documented attack of southern water vole Arvicola sapidus Miller, 1908 on a viperine snake Natrix maura (Linnaeus, 1758), on the Montsant river (NE Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

. 2002, Flechoso & Alarcos 2009), which mainly occurs in females during pregnancy and lactation, in response to a higher protein requirement (Strachan 1997). The females are territorial (Roman 2007), espe-cially in the breeding season, which is a defence me-chanism for spatial and trophic resources (Ostfeld 1990). Females defend offspring against conspecifics and other species through strategies such as moving pups to other nests when threatened. Presumably, given the references to the aggressiveness shown by some individuals of semi-aquatic species of