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Dasypeltis Fasciata
''Dasypeltis fasciata'', commonly known as the Central African egg-eating snake or the western forest eggeater, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Africa. It is one of 13 species in the genus ''Dasypeltis'', and is occasionally kept in captivity as an exotic pet along with other members of its genus, particularly '' D. scabra'' and '' D. medici''. Geographic range ''D. fasciata'' is found in western and central Africa including the Central African Republic, Gambia, Nigeria, and Uganda. Habitat The preferred habitat of ''D. fasciata'' is lowland forest at altitudes of approximately . Reproduction ''D. fasciata'' is oviparous. Anatomy and behaviour Owing to their nature as obligate ovivores, all members of the genus ''Dasypeltis'' are arboreal, preferring to remain in the trees where they can locate bird-nests, and tend to be nocturnal as this is when the diurnal bird species they prey upon are asleep and most likely to leave their eggs u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Smith (zoologist)
Sir Andrew Smith (3 December 1797 – 11 August 1872) was a British surgeon, explorer, ethnologist and zoologist. He is considered the father of zoology in South Africa having described many species across a wide range of groups in his major work, ''Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa''. Smith was born in Hawick, Roxburghshire. He qualified in medicine at the University of Edinburgh obtaining an M.D. degree in 1819, having joined the Army Medical Services in 1816. South Africa 1820–1837 In 1820 he was ordered to the Cape Colony and was sent to Grahamstown to supervise the medical care of European soldiers and soldiers of the Cape Corps. He was appointed the Albany district surgeon in 1822 and started the first free dispensary for indigent patients in South Africa. He led a scientific expedition into the interior and was able to indulge in his interests of natural history and anthropology. On several occasions, he was sent by governors on confidential missions to vis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dasypeltis Medici
''Dasypeltis medici'', known commonly as the East African egg-eater and the eastern forest egg-eater, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Africa. Etymology The specific name, ''medici'', is in honor of Italian physiologist Michele Medici. Geographic range ''D. medici'' is found in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.. www.reptile-database.org. Habitat The preferred habitat of ''D. medici'' is lowland evergreen forest. Description ''D. medici'' may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of for females, and for males. Branch, Bill (2004). ''Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa''. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. . (''Dasypeltis medici'', p. 96 + Plate15). Diet ''D. medici'', like all species in the genus ''Dasypeltis'', feeds exclusively on birds' eggs. It can swallow an egg three times the size of its he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snakes Of Africa
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Egg-eating Snake
The Indian egg-eating snake or Indian egg-eater (''Elachistodon westermanni)'' is a rare species of egg-eating snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. It is also called Westermann's snake, reflecting its scientific name. The snake belongs to the monotypic genus ''Elachistodon''. Etymology The specific name, ''westermanni'', is in honor of Dutch zoologist Geraldus Frederick Westermann (1807–1890). Geographic range The Indian egg-eating snake is found in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Recent discoveries of the species come from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. Habitat The preferred natural habitats of ''E. westermanni'' are forest and shrubland, at altitudes of . Description ''E. westermanni'' is glossy brown to black, with bluish white flecks posteriorly and a middorsal creamy stripe from neck to tail tip. The head is brown with a black arrow mark. The ventrals are white with brown dots. Adults ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garter Snake
Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the subarctic plains of Canada to Costa Rica. With about 35 recognized species and subspecies, garter snakes are highly variable in appearance. They generally have large round eyes, round pupils, a slender build, keeled scales, and a pattern of longitudinal stripes that may or may not include spots (although some have no stripes at all). They also vary significantly in total length from as short as 18″ to as long as 51" (45-130cm). With no real consensus on the classification of species of ''Thamnophis'', disagreement between taxonomists and sources such as field guides over whether two types of snakes are separate species or subspecies of the same species is common. Garter snakes are closely related to the genus ''Nerodia'' (water snakes), wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Mamba
The black mamba (''Dendroaspis polylepis'') is a species of highly venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. It is native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. First formally described by Albert Günther in 1864, it is the second-longest venomous snake after the king cobra; mature specimens generally exceed and commonly grow to . Specimens of have been reported. Its skin colour varies from grey to dark brown. Juvenile black mambas tend to be paler than adults and darken with age. The species is both terrestrial (ground-living) and arboreal (tree-living); it inhabits savannah, woodland, rocky slopes and in some regions, dense forest. It is diurnal and is known to prey on birds and small mammals. Over suitable surfaces, it can move at speeds up to for short distances. Adult black mambas have few natural predators. In a threat display, the black mamba usually opens its inky-black mouth, spreads its narrow neck-flap and sometimes hisses. It is capable of striking at con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batesian Mimicry
Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, after his work on butterflies in the rainforests of Brazil. Batesian mimicry is the most commonly known and widely studied of mimicry complexes, such that the word mimicry is often treated as synonymous with Batesian mimicry. There are many other forms however, some very similar in principle, others far separated. It is often contrasted with Müllerian mimicry, a form of mutually beneficial convergence between two or more harmful species. However, because the mimic may have a degree of protection itself, the distinction is not absolute. It can also be contrasted with functionally different forms of mimicry. Perhaps the sharpest contrast here is with aggressive mimicry where a predator or parasite mimics a harmless species, avoiding detection and improving its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egg Predation
Egg predation is a feeding strategy in many groups of animals (ovivores) in which they consume eggs. Since an egg represents a complete organism at one stage of its life cycle, eating an egg is a form of predation, the killing of another organism for food. Egg predation is found widely across the animal kingdom, including in fish, birds, snakes, mammals, and arthropods. Some species are specialist egg predators, but many more are generalists which take eggs when the opportunity arises. Humans have accidentally or intentionally introduced egg predators such as rats to places that had been free of them, causing damage to native species such as ground-nesting seabirds. Predatory birds such as ravens and gulls have spread, threatening ground-nesting birds such as sage grouse and terns. Measure to control such predators include the use of poisoned bait eggs. Definitions An ovivore or ovivorous animal is one that eats eggs, from Latin , egg, and , to devour. An obligate ovivore o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviparity
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and monotremes. In traditional usage, most insects (one being ''Culex pipiens'', or the common house mosquito), molluscs, and arachnids are also described as oviparous. Modes of reproduction The traditional modes of reproduction include oviparity, taken to be the ancestral condition, traditionally where either unfertilised oocytes or fertilised eggs are spawned, and viviparity traditionally including any mechanism where young are born live, or where the development of the young is supported by either parent in or on any part of their body. However, the biologist Thierry Lodé recently divided the traditional category of oviparous reproduction into two modes that he named ovuliparity and (true) oviparity respectively. He distinguished the tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche. Thus "habitat" is a species-specific term, fundamentally different from concepts such as environment or vegetation assemblages, for which the term "habitat-type" is more appropriate. The physical factors may include (for example): soil, moisture, range of temperature, and light intensity. Biotic factors will include the availability of food and the presence or absence of predators. Every species has particular habitat requirements, with habitat generalist species able to thrive in a wide array of environmental conditions while habitat specialist species requiring a very limited set of factors to survive. The habitat of a species is not necessarily found in a geographical area, it can be the interior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dasypeltis Scabra
''Dasypeltis scabra'', known as the common egg eater, egg-eating snake or rhombic egg eater, is a species of colubrid snake endemic to Africa. Geographic range ''Dasypeltis scabra'' is found in sub-Saharan Africa. It can also be found in Saudi Arabia and in other countries of the Middle East. Description ''D. scabra'' grows to a total length (including tail) of , and has almost toothless jaws. Dorsally, it has a series of rhomboidal dark brown spots on a lighter background. There is an alternating series of brown spots on each side and a distinct V-shaped mark at the back of the neck. Ventrally it is yellowish, either uniform or with dark dots. Mimicry It has been suggested that non-venomous ''Dasypeltis scabra'' is a mimic of venomous ''Echis carinatus'', the saw-scaled viper, which it strongly resembles. ''D. scabra'' also closely resembles ''Causus rhombeatus'', the rhombic night adder. These two species may be distinguished by the shape of the pupil of the eye. Snakes of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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