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Notice the Dendrelaphis kopsteini’s long thin body structure.
n May 2010 while I was photographing Alstonia trees for My Favourite Plants articles in Nature Watch, see Volume 18(3), my attention was drawn to a small dis- turbance nearby. Upon investigation, I was rewarded Iwith the scene of a Kopstein’s Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis kopsteini) envenomating a Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocela NEW MAGNESIUM HOUSING cristatella). This is not something you see every day, so I settled light and rugged telescopes down in a comfortable position nearby and videoed the whole process of envenomation through to consumption of the prey. I did manage to take a few stills as well and some of these are included here. Bronchocela cristatella is a member of the Agamidae family. SEE THE UNSEEN It generally lives in trees and hunts insects and possibly other WWW.SWAROVSKIOPTIK.COM small reptiles. It is also able to change colour, PARTICIPATING DEALERS: Alan Photo Trading, 109 North Bridge Road #02-07, Funan DigitalLife Mall, Singapore 179097, Dendrelaphis kopsteini is a member of a genus of arboreal Tel: +65-6883-0922, [email protected], www.alanphoto.com.sg snakes known as bronzebacks. Notice the long thin body struc- The snake typically injects just behind the head of the prey. BenPhoto, 3 Coleman Street, Peninsula Shopping Center #01-k34B, Singapore 179804, Tel: +65-6336-4129, [email protected], www.benro.com.cn CathayPhoto, 111 North Bridge Road, Peninsula Plaza #01-11 to 14, Singapore 179098, 22 Nature Watch Apr - Jun 2011 Tel: +65-6337-4274, [email protected] Apr - Jun 2011 Nature Watch 23
CN02_Precision_A4+3_EN_SIN.indd 1 18.02.11 08:11 Above and below: The snake swallows the lizard headfirst by “walking’ its jaws over and down the lizard’s body. ture. Bronzebacks are members of the Colubridae family whose venom fangs are located at the back of the jaws. As you can see, the snake needs to inject the venom with a wide gape and typi- cally injects just behind the head of the prey where it is not only most effective but also presents less risk of injury to the snake. It is likely that the initial phase of capture involved the snake coiling around the prey to restrict its movement during the initial stages of envenoma- tion, which in this case I had missed. In Baker & Lim (2008) we stated that the Kopstein’s Bronzeback and the other Dendrelaphis snakes are ‘apparently non-venomous’. We now know that D. kopsteini and possibly other bronzebacks are in fact venomous. Once the prey had succumbed to out and moved off into the nearby trees. REFERENCES the venom, the bronzeback manipulated Dendrelaphis species are arboreal snakes Baker, N. & Lim, K. (2008). Wild Animals of Singapore. the body into position and proceeded to and are at great risk of predation from NSS/Draco Publishing, Singapore. swallow the lizard headfirst by ‘walking’ birds, other snakes and monitor liz- its jaws over and down the body. Before ards when they venture down onto the Tony O’Dempsey is a long-standing sup- the last few centimeters of the lizard’s ground. I suppose the opportunity to porter of the nature community in Singapore tail had disappeared down the snakes dine on Green Crested Lizard was worth and presently Chairperson of the Vertebrate throat, the bronzeback lifted its head, the risk, as this bronzeback would not Study Group of Nature Society (Singapore). complete with the lizards tail hanging need to eat again for several weeks.
24 Nature Watch Apr - Jun 2011