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Family : COLUBRIDAE
Species : Ahaetulla prasina
Maximum Size : 2 metres
The Oriental Whip Snake
prefers forest edge habitats or their equivalent including parklands, wooded
residential areas and rural agricultural areas. It is most commonly
encountered whilst sunning itself on secondary growth along the forest edge.
Its body form is extremely slender, though fully-grown adults appear more
robust. Adult colouration varies from light brown to dull yellow-green and
often a startling fluorescent green.
The species feeds mainly on vertebrates, including small nesting birds, lizards
and frogs.
The young are born alive, and are brown with yellow and black flecks.
It can be distinguished
from the similar, and closely related, forest-dwelling
Big-eyed Green Whip Snake on the
basis of its smaller eye and, generally, the presence of a thin yellow line along the
lower flank, just above the ventral scales.
The species ranges from
India to China and throughout Southeast Asia as far east as Sulawesi and the
Philippines.
Fig 1 : The species is often encountered draped over low vegetation at the
forest edge. This specimen is from Seletar, Singapore.
Fig 2 : Juvenile specimen from Singapore's central forests, found resting at
eye-level on a sapling at the forest edge.
Fig 3 : A vibrant green specimen from Macritchie, Singapore.
Fig 4 : Close-up showing two identifying features - a yellow stripe on the
flanks, and pale green ventral scales.
Fig 5 : Head shot of a fully-grown 2-metre specimen from
Singapore's central forests.
Fig 6 : Dull coloured specimen
from Tioman Island, Peninsular Malaysia.
Fig 7 : This specimen, from Cat Ba Island, Vietnam, exhibits black and white
lateral stripes when the forward part of its body is inflated.
Fig 8 : Grey example (estimated total length of around 70 cm) from forest edge habitat, Phnom Kulen National Park, Cambodia. Photo thanks to Derek Clark.
References : H1, H2
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