A bright emerald-green python of New Guinean and northern Australian rainforests, often photographed coiled neatly on a horizontal branch.
Description
A slender python around 1.8 m long with intense emerald scales, often with white or yellow vertebral spots and a pale yellow belly. Adults sit famously in a flat coil over a horizontal branch with the head resting on top. Hatchlings are bright yellow or red and slowly turn green.
Behavior
Almost entirely arboreal, green tree pythons hunt at night by hanging the head down from a branch and using heat-sensing pits to detect small mammals and birds. They constrict prey lifted into the canopy. The dramatic juvenile colour change is among the most striking in any reptile.
Range
Native to the rainforests of New Guinea and the offshore Aru Islands, plus a small enclave in northeastern Queensland, Australia. Several geographic forms are distinguished by adult colour and pattern intensity.
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Green Tree Python starts with G and ends with N. Browse other snakes along the same letter.
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