Thursday, December 4, 2008

Juvenile Wagler's Pit Viper

Well, as we went back down the main path, we saw a man whom we met a few hours ago. We asked him what he had seen so far. We told him that we had found the Spotted Keelback. When we asked him if he saw any snakes, he said yes. What did he say? A Wagler's Pit Viper! He said that he saw it near the railing at the slope. We rushed to see if it was there.
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As I looked carefully, I saw a small, green snake resting on a leaf, about an inch close to the railing. It was a juvenile Wagler's Pit Viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri. Yes, we had found it. For the first time, we managed to spot a wild venomous snake in Singapore. Here are the pictures we took:
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You know me, I can't resist not taking another shot when I can! I was so happy upon being able to spot two snakes in a day. One was a venomous one too! This was a lucky day for us.
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As it was rather close to the railing, we feared that someone would accidentaly touch it and get a bite from it, so we told the staff there to move it further down.
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Wagler's Pit Viper is perhaps the most well-known of the green, arboreal pit vipers to be found in the region. This is a snake of primary forest, mature secondary forest and mangroves. It is active by night; by day it generally lays coiled high in the trees. As with other pit vipers, this species has haemotoxic venom, meaning it is poisonous to the blood system. The species can be identified by the triangular head. Juveniles are mainly light green with narrow pale bands, and adults are dark green with thicker yellowish bands.

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