Details
Morelia viridis
The green tree python is a vivid green python of tropical forests. It coils on branches and ambushes small animals at night.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It inhabits Australasian tropical forest. Humid canopy and shrub layers provide the branches where it rests and hunts.
Total length 120-200 cm; weight 1.1-1.6 kg. Adults are bright green, sometimes with white or blue flecks. Young may be yellow or red before changing color as they mature.
Nocturnal and solitary, it drapes the body over a branch like a saddle and rests the head in the middle. From this perch it waits for prey.
A carnivore, it eats small mammals, birds, and lizards. It strikes from branches and kills by constriction.
Females lay eggs and coil around the clutch. Hatchlings are independent and begin arboreal life immediately.
It is listed as Least Concern. Its striking color makes trade management and forest protection important locally.
