Almeda Striped Racer

Fascinating facts about the Almeda Striped Racer

• At just 90–120 cm long (about 3.0–3.9 ft), the California whipsnake darts through brush and trees with the sleekness of a motorcycle, its slender body built for speed across varied terrain from sea level to 2,250 m altitude.
• When the sun first creeps over the horizon, this diurnal racer climbs to the tops of scrub plants to soak up direct sunlight before the ground warms, a clever tactic that lets it stay active while many ground-dwelling predators stay in shade.
• A diet that includes insects, lizards, other snakes, birds, and small mammals shows a strong preference for lizards, which it grabs and swallows alive.
• The Alameda whipsnake, a subspecies confined to a narrow strip of the Bay Area, bears a black-and-orange pattern with a yellow side stripe and is listed as threatened.

At a glance

About the Almeda Striped Racer

The Alameda Striped Racer, Masticophis lateralis, stretches 90–120 centimetres (3.0–3.9 ft) from tip to tail, its slender body marked by a yellow stripe flanking a dark brown or black back. This diurnal colubrid moves through diverse landscapes of California, including coastal dunes, chaparral scrub, pine-forested slopes of the Sierra de Juárez, and arid canyons of Sierra San Pedro, at altitudes from sea level up to 2,250 metres (7,382 ft). It actively forages by slipping among brush and climbing into the tops of scrub plants to gain access to direct sunlight before it reaches ground level, and it seizes prey with a swift mouth-grip. Its diet includes insects, birds, small mammals, and other snakes, with a pronounced preference for lizards, which it swallows alive. First described by Hallowell in 1853, the species has two subspecies: the widespread chaparral whipsnake (M. l. lateralis) and the endemic Alameda whipsnake (M. l. euryxanthus), the latter named by Riemer in 1954 after its collector Archie Mossman. The Alameda form is confined to southern Alameda, northern Santa Clara, and western San Joaquin counties and is distinguished by a broader head, larger eyes, and a black-orange pattern with a yellow lateral stripe.

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