Cuban Boas Exhibiting Pack Behavior

[Gio]

I saw this article when it first came out. We don't really know if these snakes are truly engaging in coordinated pack behavior to bring down prey, or if they have all just learned over time that the particular location is a great hunting spot so that's where they congregate.
To some extent I do this with my retics; the feeder always is presented through the same door (the one NOT by the water bowl) and in the same manner, so they figure out pretty quickly to position themselves on that side of the enclosure.

My thoughts exactly!

The idea that they are working like a "wolf pack" doesn't make much sense when you observe the hierarchy and dynamics within a pack. EVERYBODY eats, it's just a matter of who goes first when it is time to eat. The lower the wolf is within the pack, the longer they wait to eat. Or if the kill is large enough and more than one is eating at the same time, the alpha tends to decide who will be at the dinner table so to speak.

Snakes don't, and for that matter, can't share food.

This situation is purely instinctual IMO. Snakes will congregate in a warm area where there is sun to bask sometimes. It isn't because they enjoy the company of the other snakes, it is because it is the warmest area and their instincts and millions of years old "hard wired" survival skills bring them there.

I've seen this article before, and another similar version that discusses Puerto Rican boas.

Does anybody remember the movie The Perfect Storm?

One of the crew asks the captain why they are going to the Flemish Cap.

The captain and another crew member tell him "Because that's where the fish are."

I think this is simply evidence that snakes don't have large ranges compared to other animals, and with limited prey, they will all go to an area where it is most plentiful.

This is my own "non-biology major" opinion though.