Today I want to take you to know about the vertebrate • big-eyed oblique scale snake.
Vertebrate • Big-eyed oblique-scaled snake
Pseudoxenodon macrops
Vertebrates, reptiles, snakes, snakes, snakes, obliquely scaled snakes. Also known as oblique scaled snake, Chinese oblique scaled snake, large oblique scaled snake. It inhabits highland mountains with lush vegetation, mountain streams, vegetable gardens and stone crevices. It is found in most parts of the country. Photo taken on Gaoligong Mountain.
The big-eyed oblique-scaled snake is a brightly colored snake with a large variation in body color and markings on its back, mixed with orange, light blue, brownish red, brownish black patterns. The back of the head is blackish yellow, the posterior edge of the upper lip scales has black-brown stripes, the back of the neck has V-shaped black-brown markings, and there are about 50 yellow or red brick markings from the back of the neck to the tail end, with black edges.
The snakes under the snake family are generally medium and large snakes, and some species such as the king snake introduced in the early period are large non-venomous snakes in addition to pythons, but the large-eyed oblique scaled snake introduced in this issue is a "small man", and the total length of the body is rarely more than one meter.
The small "figure" is matched with the big cute eyes of "watery", and the large-eyed oblique scale snake always gives people a feeling of "very good bullying". But as long as you touch it, the big-eyed oblique scale snake will absolutely erect its head in an instant, and its neck part will become flattened, and the V-shaped black-brown markings on the back of the neck will be more eye-catching, and the mouth will emit a threatening sound of "blah blah". In such a situation, most people will think that they have met a "cobra" and run away.
As an excellent master of imitation, the big-eyed oblique scale snake can imitate the appearance of the Zhoushan cobra very well through the action of convergence and evolution, coupled with its more gorgeous body color and pattern, giving people the illusion that it is more poisonous than the cobra. However, this large-eyed oblique scale snake that looks "more poisonous" is actually a non-venomous snake like a fake bag.
The wonderful thing about nature is that there is a general convergent evolutionary relationship between many species like "false plum ghost and real plum kui". However, the "Li Ghost" is still the "Li Ghost", it cannot become "Li Kui", and the big-eyed oblique scale snake cannot escape such a "fate".
In addition, the real defense of this "weak" little snake is the stink glands, when the "intimidation" is useless, the stink glands of the big-eyed oblique scale snake will secrete a strange smelly liquid, which is more than the weasel, which makes only a very small number of predators can tolerate such a smell to prey on the big-eyed oblique scale snake.
Fan Yi is an ecological photographer. He has won the Grand Prize of the International Garden Photographer Annual Competition for 4 consecutive years and the first prize in the wild animal and plant category of the first China Eco-Photography Competition in 2018. He is committed to photographing the cultural landscape and biodiversity of western China, especially in Yunnan.
Coordinator: Lian Huiling
Character arrangement: Tamoto
Poster Design: Zheng Biyin