Characteristic defensive behaviors of snakes and their ecological and morphological correlates have been well documented. Biological interpretations of these characteristics, however, often suffer from a paucity of information on actual predators of snakes. Concerning natural predators of Japanese snakes, neither quantitative data nor a systematic review are available. Here, we review and synthesize the published accounts of predators of snakes in Japan. We confirmed 59 species/subspecies of predators and 21 species of prey snakes. We hope that this review will stimulate biologists and naturalists to record further predatory events on snakes and help clarify the defensive mechanisms of snakes.

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