THE STEINHART AQUARIUM - Gulf of Guinea Science ...

Habitat: Arboreal, living in lowland tropical
forests, mangroves, or bamboos.
Appearance: Bright iridescent green with
tails of red, orange or gray. Long and slender,
averaging 1.5 m but can exceed 2 m. Females
are slightly larger than males. They have
predominately smooth scales, with the head
covered by plate-like scales, and the ventral
side with ridged scales.
Diet: In the wild eat birds, eggs, and nestlings.
Will also eat frogs, lizards, bats, and other small
mammals. In captivity they are usually fed
mice. They are fast hunters, and can capture
bats in flight. Prey is killed by constriction,
rather than venom.
Reproduction and Development: Breed year
round, 3 to 4 clutches per year. Unlike most
reptiles they will incubate their eggs for 3 to 4
months. Hatchlings are about 24 cm.
Mortality/Longevity: May live about 6 years in
the wild and up to 15 years in captivity.
Conservation Status: Once commonly sold
for purported medicinal value in some Asian
countries, the snake is now restricted from
export, at least by the Thai government, and
local people value it for rodent control.
Remarks: Red-tailed rat snakes spend most
of their time high in trees. The ridged scales
on the ventral side help them hold tightly to
tree branches.
Red-tailed green ratsnakes look and behave
like a species of venomous pit viper that lives
in the same area, an example of mimicry. When
threatened, they can compress laterally and
inflate the first 1/3 of their bodies. They coil
this region into an “S” that reaches above the
rest of the body. This posture exposes black and
white diagonal bands of tissue and presents an
ominous threat to enemies.
Madagascar Leaf-nosed Snake
Langaha madagascariensis (Colubridae)
Colubrids
Distribution: Endemic to Madagascar.
Habitat: Arboreal, lives in and on vines and
branches.
Appearance: Displays striking sexual
dimorphism: male has a pointed snout and
body with contrasting coloration; female
has leaf-shaped snout and is uniformly dark
brown.
California Academy of Sciences
Remarks: Venomous; bites can produce severe
local pain and swelling that may last for several
days. Colubrids tend to chew when they bite,
further envenomating and infecting the site.
None of Madagascar’s more than 80 species
of snakes is overly dangerous to humans. No
adders, cobras, mambas, pythons, or vipers—
just boas and colubrids.
Burmese Vine Snake
Ahaetulla fronticincta (Colubridae)
Colubrids
Distribution: Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Habitat: Mostly arboreal in brackish mangrove
swamps.
Appearance: Length to perhaps 60 cm. Pencil
thin, delicate; green and brown scales. Bulbous
wide-set raised eyes.
Diet: Diurnal hunter of small fish: gobies, and
rice fish. Prey immobilized with mild venom
from enlarged rear fangs. Visually-oriented
hunter.
Reproduction and Development: Fertilization
internal. Viviparous. Newborn snakes are a
subtle shade of brown. Polymorphic: some adults
turn green, brown, or more rarely two-toned.
Remarks: The Steinhart Aquarium was the first
to display this species. Academy field research
on this little-known species continues.
An arboreally-adapted species that consumes
fishes is an oddity. In the Steinhart, feed on
guppies and goldfish.
Steinhart’s vine shakes have bred and reproduced
in captivity, a first for this species.
CLASS AVES
(BIRDS)
African Penguin aka Jackass Penguin
Spheniscus demersus (Spheniscidae)
Distribution: Coasts of South Africa and
Namibia.
Habitat: Nests in colonies mainly on offshore
islands. Rarely encountered more than 8 km
from islands or mainland.
Appearance: To 70 cm tall. Like most birds
with shared parental duties, sexes are similar
in appearance. Adults: upperparts blackishgrey,
underparts mostly white with inverted
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