Elephant-trunk Snake
Name of a
large, entirely aquatic, not poisonous file or wart snake, with the scientific name Acrochordus javanicus, that
lives in slow-moving water, such as near river banks, either in fresh or brackish
water, where it feeds on fish. It has a thick body with a baggy, wrinkly skin
with granular scales, and a short, blunt head. When it is out of the water it
has a light gray colour and the design on its skin is hardly noticeable, but
when it is in the water it becomes dark brown and the design on its skin is
clearly visible. Females give birth to a live offspring of twenty-five to thirty
baby snakes per litter, that have a length of just under thirty centimeters and
that can feed themselves immediately after birth. Although they usually lay
silent, they can at times coil their bodies to grab and constrict prey, and even
people moving about in the water are known to have been grabbed, some thinking
they were attacked by a
phi phraai, a kind of Thai water ghost. The
Elephant-trunk Snake is found throughout Southeast
Asia, from Vietnam,
Cambodia and
Thailand, southward through
Malaysia and
Singapore, to Indonesia. In Thai, it is equally named
ngu nguong chang.
回
|