EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Spotted Bush Snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus), Family Colubridae
South Luangwa National Park, eastern Zambia

Explanation:  This week we find ourselves back at base camp after dark, enjoying a refreshing drink following a long day's photographic safari in the amazing land of lions, buffalos, and elephants in South Luangwa National Park, eastern Zambia.  Nearly unseen, beneath our feet, another natural drama was unfolding.  In the dark corner, this beautiful Spotted Bush Snake was wrestling with a small prey, a tree frog that had wandered in from the jungle.  

Spotted Bush Snakes usually hunt during the day under the cover of shrubs and along rivers for such prey as geckoes and tree frogs.  They are also  capable climbers, clinging even to concrete walls with keeled ridges on their belly (ventral) scales.  Their coloration and patterning blends well into the foliage.  

If disturbed, it will inflate its throat and expose bright blue skin beneath the scales as a warning signal, and then strike readily ... although it is mostly harmless bluff.  Still, if you confront any snake in the African bush, it is wisest to take caution and presume it is venomous unless absolutely proven otherwise.  

Spotted Bush Snakes are found from southern Africa north to the Sudan.

 
Information:
     Branch, B. 1998. Field guide to snakes and other reptiles of southern Africa. Ralph Curtis Books, Sanibel Island, Florida. 399 pp.
     Spawls, S., K. M. Howell, and R. C. Drewes. 2006. Reptiles and amphibians of East Africa. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford. 240 pp.