Avi Blizovsky
A snake with the ability to change its colors was discovered in a rainforest in the heart of the island of Borneo. Researchers from Germany and the USA accidentally discovered the chameleon-like behavior of the water snake, when they put it in a dark bucket.
Members of the environmental group WWF, which supports the conservation work in Borneo, said that the wild animals in the area are threatened by deforestation. They believe that this snake is only able to exist in one river basin.
It was discovered in the Kapuas River, in the Batong Krihon National Park in Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo). It belongs to Enhydris, a type of water snake also known as Fellini, and known by the scientific name Enhydris gyii. The length of the snake is about 50 centimeters, and it is a poisonous snake.
The new species was described by Mark Auliya of the Alexander Koenig Zoological Institute in Boone and John Murphy and Harold Waris, field researchers at the Natural History Institute in Chicago. Olya, a WWF consultant, first discovered the snake's ability to change colors by accident.
"I put a reddish-brown snake in a dark bucket," he said. "When after a few minutes I came to pick him up, he was completely white, almost. The reasons for the development of these features are not clear. The chameleon, the most well-known color changer in the natural world, changes its colors depending on the mood and environmental temperature."
In the last decade, more than 350 new species of plants and animals were discovered in Borneo. The discovery of the "chameleon snake" reveals one of nature's secrets hidden in the heart of Borneo's forests, says Stuart Chapman, WWF's international coordinator on the island.
The environmental group warns that the home of the new snake is threatened due to the shrinking of the forest in Borneo, which in the 75s covered about 50% of the island, while today about XNUMX%.
For news at the BBC
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