Gebruiker:Naoualvdh/Kladblok

Etymology: Opheodrys volatilis (flying snake) The flying snake originates from the Chrysopelea, more commonly known as the flying snake or gliding snake. The opheodrys volatilis and the chrysopelea still share common trades, for example their green colour.

History and Evolution: The snake lives in the jungle and is physically adapted to this climate. The high density of leafs and the snake’s colour made it easy for the Chrysopelea to hide and wait to attack preys. But it was very difficult to catch the prey, because the snake had to keep its balance in the tree and attack at the same time. As time went by the Chrysopelea started to train itself how to jump. Birds started realising that the snake trained itself to jump and started to become more cautious. Slowly but steady the Chrysopelea started to get wings and evolved into the Opheodrys volatilis.

Biology: The flying snake hunts during the day. There was not enough food on the ground for the flying snake, so it had to find a way to still get enough food to survive. It started trying to jump and fly, and prey upon little birds in the air. First it only jumped in the air, but it could not reach most birds. Then it started to evolve wings, which made it easier for the flying snake to catch and eat the little birds. An adult flying snake is approximately 150 cm tall. The snake has a green skin colour, so it camouflages well into their natural habitat, the jungle. The flying snake has a long tail, with spikes at the end of the tail. In the tail is a poisonous gas so it can defend itself against bigger animals in the jungle. When the flying snake gets scared or angry on an animal, it hits the animal with his tail and the animal dies. The snake can live up to 8 years in human years.

Scientific classification: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Colubridae Subfamily: Chrysopelea Genus: Opheodrys volatilis

Impact on the Earth: The flying snake is not a danger to the world, it only preys upon little birds, but there are more than enough birds. Also, it does not kill other animals for no reason; it only poisons animals when someone attacks the flying snake. Another reason why the flying snake is not dangerous to the world, is because it cannot fly more than 10 metres at a time, so it would probably never fly to environments where humans live. The positive effect the flying snake has on earth, is that the flying snake makes the other animals in the jungle stronger. A lot of animals prey on little birds, so it is a competition of what animal is the strongest. All animals compete with each other and eventually make each other stronger. Overall the flying snake does not have a very big inpact on the earth.

Habitat and Population The opheodrys volatilis originates from the Chrysopelea family. Like most snakes we know today, the opheodrys volatilis lives and hunts by itself. Around spring time, the male opheodrys volatilis will be found flying around in the air doing ‘tricks’ to impress females to mate with. The opheodrys volatilis lives in jungles and is often fount eating birds but also found eating some ground species such as mice and small amphibians and reptiles. The opheodrys volatilis prefers hunting in the air though, as he is less volunerable to predators here. The main predators are found in the water, they will hide under the water at the sides and strike unexpectedly. Another predator that fights with the opheodrys volatilis, are pythons. Although there are some animals which will occasionaly kill a opheodrys volatilis, they are very fast and well camouflaged so hard to kill. When you take a look into the jungle, you will think there are almost no opheodrys volatilis around. This is because most of them are hidden in the trees camouflaged by the leafs surrounding them. If they see a prey, they will push themselves from the tree and surprise attack the prey. The jungles are not very densely polulated by the opheodrys volatilis, they make sure they are spread out well. The snakes may also mark a territory as their own, and fight other snakes trying to intrude.