Green Tree Python
Morelia viridis
-These arboreal (living in trees) snakes reside in New Guinea and on the Cape York Peninsula of Australia
-They can reach 4-7 feet in length
-These snakes utilize a type of camouflage called "disruptive coloration", which works by breaking up the outlines of their shape with a strongly contrasting pattern to produce near invisibility with their surroundings. These pythons use their bright green coloration with the contrasting white spots to camouflage into the dense vegetation of the trees.
-Strong, prehensile tails allow them to prey upon rodents and birds while hanging from branches
-These snakes wrap their tails around a branch as an anchor and then loop around a branch, hanging off, with their heads resting in the middle. From this position, they can strike at prey and coil around their meal.
-Mating is favorable when temperatures drop, in the late fall and winter months
-Offspring: clutches of 10-30 eggs
HERE AT ALAMEDA:
We have one male and one female green tree python. Can you spot them both? Look closely at the branches and in the pots of the plants.