INDONESIAN SNAKE REVEALS TRUE COLOURS

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*Last Updated: Monday, 26 June 2006, 23:42 GMT 00:42 UK *

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*Snake displays changing colours *

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*Snake shows its colours*

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*A snake with the ability to change its colour has been found in the

rainforested heart of Borneo. *

*Researchers from Germany and the US discovered the water snake's

chameleon-like behaviour by accident when they put it into a dark bucket. *

*The environmental group WWF, which supports conservation work in Borneo,

says wildlife in the region is threatened by deforestation. *

*It believes the newly described snake may exist only in one river basin. *

*Found in the Kapuas river in the Betung Kerihun National Park in Kalimantan

(the Indonesian portion of Borneo), it belongs to the Enhydris genus of

rear-fanged water snakes and has been named E. gyii. *

*It is about 50cm (18 inches) long, and venomous. *

*Bucket research *

 

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* The discovery of the 'chameleon " snake exposes one of nature's best kept

secrets deep in the heart of Borneo

*

*Stuart Chapman, WWF*

*The new species was described by Mark Auliya from the Zoologisches

Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, and John Murphy and Harold Voris

from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. *

*It was Dr Auliya, a consultant for WWF, who discovered serendipitously its

colour-changing capacity. *

* " I put the reddish-brown snake in a dark bucket, " he said. " When I

retrieved it a few minutes later, it was almost entirely white. " *

*The reasons why it has evolved this attribute are unclear. The chameleon,

possibly the animal kingdom's most famous colour-changer, is believed to

alter its hue depending on mood and temperature. *

*In the last 10 years, more than 350 new animal and plant species have been

discovered on Borneo. *

* " The discovery of the 'chameleon' snake exposes one of nature's best kept

secrets deep in the heart of Borneo, " said Stuart Chapman, WWF's

international coordinator for the island. *

*The environmental group warns that the home of the new snake is threatened,

as Borneo's forest cover has declined from 75% in the mid-1980s to about 50%

today. *

 

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*http://news./s/nm/20060627/sc_nm/environment_snake_dc_2*<http://news.y\

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*New color-changing snake found in Borneo: WWF *

 

*Mon Jun 26, 8:03 PM ET *

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*GENEVA (Reuters) - Biologists working in the forests of Borneo have found a

previously unknown type of snake which can change its color spontaneously

like a chameleon, the environmental body WWF said on Tuesday. *

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*The poisonous snake, about half a meter (half a yard) long, was discovered

in the wetlands and swamp forests of Betung National Park in the Indonesian

part of the island, which is also shared by Malaysia and Brunei.*

 

*When picked up and put in a bucket, it was reddish-brown but later changed

its color to white, apparently in an automatic reaction to blend in with

surroundings, according to the WWF.*

 

*The biologists named the serpent, two specimens of which were recovered,

the Kapuas Mud Snake after the river that flows through the region.*

 

*The WWF said although some reptiles with legs, like the chameleon lizard,

had the ability to change color, it was rare for snakes. *

 

*http://news./s/ap/20060627/ap_on_sc/chameleon_snake_2*<http://news.yah\

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*Snake on Borneo island can change color *

 

*Tue Jun 27, 7:12 AM ET *

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*JAKARTA, Indonesia - Researchers scouring swamps in the heart of Borneo

island have discovered a venomous species of snake that can change its skin

color, the conservation group WWF announced Tuesday. *

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*The ability to change skin color is known in some reptiles, such as the

chameleon, but scientists have seen it rarely with snakes and have not yet

understood this phenomenon, the group said in a statement.*

 

* " 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. " *

 

*Reptiles typically change color to camouflage themselves from predators.*

 

*The 1.6-foot-long snake was discovered last year in wetlands and swamp

forests around the Kapuas River in the Betung Kerihun National Park in the

Indonesian part of Borneo island.*

 

* " The discovery of the 'chameleon' snake exposes one of nature's best-kept

secrets. Its ability to change color has kept it hidden from science until

now, " said Bambang Supriyanto, a WWF specialist on Borneo.*

 

*Scientists named their find the Kapuas Mud Snake, and speculated it might

only occur in the Kapuas River drainage system.*

 

*The WWF, the international group formerly known as World Wildlife Fund,

said 361 animal and plant species have been discovered since 1996 on Borneo,

underscoring its unparalleled biological diversity.*

 

*But it said that widespread logging has left Borneo with only half of its

former forest cover, down from 75 percent in the mid-1980s.*

 

*Indonesia and Malaysia have territory on Borneo, which is also home to the

sultanate of Brunei.*

 

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http://news./s/afp/20060627/sc_afp/indonesiaanimalsnake_060627062441

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*Chameleon-like snake discovered in Indonesia *

 

*Tue Jun 27, 2:24 AM ET *

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*JAKARTA (AFP) - Scientists in Indonesia have discovered a new and

mysterious species of snake in the depths of rain forest-clad Borneo which

has the ability to change colours, the WWF conservation group has said. *

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*The half-meter long snake, known locally as a " mud snake " , was collected by

a WWF consultant and a German reptile expert in the wetlands along the

Kapuas River in West Kalimantan more than a year ago.*

 

* " It has since been established that it is really a new species, " the WWF's

Iwan Wibisono told AFP.*

 

* " The peculiar thing with this snake, is that it can change colour... That

is relatively rare among snakes, " he told AFP.*

 

*The feat, which some reptiles have mastered in order to evade predators,

was discovered when the reptile experts put the reddish-brown snake into a

pail and it turned white, he said.*

 

*He noted that the ability to morph colours was typically a defence

mechanism among reptiles.*

 

* " But since the mud snake is poisonous, what purpose does the

colour-changing ability serve? " Wibisono asked. Scientists are speculating

that its camouflaging ability was linked instead to allowing it to catch

food, he added.*

 

*The WWF and environmentalists have warned that rapid deforestation on

Borneo, where vast tracts of rainforest still remain, threatens to destroy

chances of discovering more undiscovered species harboured there.*

 

*Indonesia is losing at least 2.8 million hectares of its forests every year

to illegal logging alone.*