The reptiles of Australia are a diverse group of animals, widely distributed across the continent. Three of the four orders of reptiles are native to Australia. The large group consists of over 860 species. This is much more compared to other continents of the world.
Species is one of the ways in which all animals are classified.
This report is on Green Tree Python.
The Green Tree Python
Name and Classification
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| Species: | M. viridis |
General Description
Adult pythons are usually 4 to 6 and a half feet in length. Sometimes (but only rarely) they grow up to 7 feet. Their head is large and is much wider than their body.Green pythons live mostly on trees. Adults are a bright green or yellow in color. The color pattern can change depending on where they live. Some are a bright green with a broken stripe of white or dull yellow scales, or a bright green with blue highlights and a solid vertical stripe.
Habitat
Its main habitat is in rainforests, bushes, shrubs and trees.
In Australia the green python is restricted to the rainforests of Eastern Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland. It can also be found in Papua New Guinea and in Indonesia.
Diet and Predators
The diet consists mostly of small mammals, such as rodents, and sometimes reptiles. They are captured while the python is holding onto a branch using its tail and striking out from an S-shape position and catching the prey. A fascinating fact is that the end of the tail of the green tree python is a different colour from the rest of the snake and is used to attract its prey. The tail is held in front of the snake's head and wriggled to look like a worm!
Young green tree pythons are hunted by birds of prey such as eagles, hawks and vultures. The young hatch out in many colours including orange, yellow and blue. This makes them targets for hungry predators, so they enter the trees as quickly as possible, and develop their green colouring by the time they are two years old.
The green colouring of this python acts as perfect camouflage in the thick growth of the rainforest.
Reproduction and life cycle
Female green tree pythons find a suitable tree hollow in which to lay their eggs. A group of python eggs is called a ‘clutch’. A clutch usually contains about 8-25 eggs. Once produced, she will wrap herself around them to maintain the correct temperature until they hatch around 6-8 weeks later. They reach maturity and can start to reproduce from the age of two. Green Tree Pythons can live more than 20 years and up to 35 years old (in captivity).
