In July 16 it was World Snake Day which is appropriate because on the Facebook page of Save the Daintree Rainforest they featured a photograph of a huge scrub python which was crossing the road at Cape Tribulation in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. They are also known as amethystine pythons and are the longest snake in Australia. They can grow to 8.5 m long. They are of interest to this website because I’m told that they can sometimes feed on domestic and feral cats and they also eat wallabies. From the Australian authorities’ perspective, the fact that they eat feral cats will be very pleasing and the fact that they eat wallabies will be upsetting. Speciesism is very evident on that vast continent. The feral cat is outlawed comprehensively, to be got rid of as soon as possible. The continent’s native species are to be protected at all costs. Ironically it is human behaviour which is far more likely to kill native species then feral cats.
This particular snake slithered across the road stopping traffic. The snake has a sparkling opal appearance hence its other name. They prefer to live in warm and dense rainforests where there is plenty of water. It is the sixth largest lake in the world. Males are generally smaller than females weighing an average of 5 kg. Females weigh around 15 kg. The largest on record weighed 30 kg. It isn’t venomous and it can’t hurt you unless you are a domestic or feral cat or a wallaby wandering through the forest.
They also eat possums, rats, bats and birds and other small mammals. Sometimes they are seen in the suburbs. It seems that Australians respect them and allow them to go about their business. They detect prey with inbuilt infrared or heat sensitive labial pits. They are also found in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. They are carnivorous which I guess you understood seeing as they eat cats and other small mammals.
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