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Project Noah Nature School
Trimeresurus sp.
This was my first encounter with a snake while bush-walking with the camera in Yunnan and it is quite a mesmerizingly beautiful creature. Snakes (and the potential implications of encountering snakes) is not something I have paid much heed to here unlike in Australia where it pays to be extremely vigilant anywhere you go. I am sure I have been close to snakes on numerous occasions without seeing them. This one paid me little attention and as you can see I got quite close (yes I was THAT close), perhaps foolishly. The tree vipers are quite venomous with a potent haemotoxin and the most common cause of snakebite in Taiwan, for example. I originally had this individual listed as Trimeresurus stejnegeri, but was advised by an Asian pitviper taxonomist that it was unlikely to be T. stejnegeri, but certainly of that genus or even one of a few that had only recently been recorded in this region. Any other suggestions?
Fun fact! Snakes hear through the jawbone as well as through a traditional inner ear. For many years scientists didn’t think snakes could hear because they lack external ears, believing snakes gathered the information they needed to hunt, evade predators and find a mate through smell, taste and special heat-sensing organs near the nose.
Recent research modeling the movements made by a snake’s jaw has revealed that it moves in six different directions. When sound vibrations are picked up through the snakes jawbone, they travel to a cochlear mechanism within its auditory system, are converted to electrical impulses and transmitted to the brain, enabling it to pinpoint the direction, size, and speed of other organisms close by. In fact, researchers believe snakes can hear in stereo, as their jaws moves independently on each side, transmitting sounds to two separate cochlear mechanisms.
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Wow! How did you manage to get this amazing close ups? This serpent looks aggressive. I love the green colour though :)
Sin...
Every snake has defensive trick to show hidden scales and colours to confuse predator or enemy it considered. So in various pictures you will find different shades in its scales and skin.
@Ashish Nimkar
Thanks for your input Ashish. I think it will be hard to confirm ID from pictures alone however.
Spotted on Nov 15, 2011
Submitted on Mar 4, 2013
+3
