Snake On Borneo Island Can Change Color

[SPQR]

story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_on_sc/chameleon_snake;_ylt=AmetIzCC2fJrzD1EOApga04iANEA; _ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-)

"I put the reddish-brown snake in a dark bucket," said Mark Auliya, a reptile expert and a consultant for the group. "When I retrieved it a few minutes later, it was almost entirely white."

Pretty cool.

[fuelair]

story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_on_sc/chameleon_snake;_ylt=AmetIzCC2fJrzD1EOApga04iANEA; _ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-)



Pretty cool.

Chlorine in the dark bucket? White paint? A ghost?

[SteveGrenard]

Chlorine in the dark bucket? White paint? A ghost?

Actually this snake was discovered some years ago and written up in 2005
here:

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_Collections/zoology/pdf/murphy_voris_auliya_2005.pdf (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_Collections/zoology/pdf/murphy_voris_auliya_2005.pdf)

Check out the last paragraph (pg. 5) just before the acknowledgements heading.

The World Wildlife Fund apparently has decided to use this discovery (now) for press release material in connection with its initiative to save habitat in this region. Here is their release issued on June 27th, 2006:

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/asia_pacific/our_solutions/born (http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/asia_pacific/our_solutions/born)eo_forests/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=73220

[JamesM]

Oddly, its drumsticks are not mentioned.

[SteveGrenard]

Chlorine in the dark bucket? White paint? A ghost?

My guess would be that it was the heat in the bucket that caused the snake to change color. Color changing or metachromatism or metachrosis is common in chordates and in vetertebrates such as fish, amphibians and in some types of lizards. I have seen snakes lighten and darken in shade in response to temperature shifts but never to change color as elegantly as chameleons or fish. Metachrosis is most commonly associated with temperature changes and is also believed to be stress related. Environmental temperature change could be a stressor in an ectotherm.

The snake became lighter to reflect the increased heat around it that was caused by it being placed in the bucket.

[EHocking]

Oddly, its drumsticks are not mentioned.Does it have eyelids?

[SteveGrenard]

Does it have eyelids?

no but tkingdoll does