Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page were taken by Paul Smith, Alberto Esquivel and Lars Hansen and are used with their permission.
PARROT SNAKE Leptophis ahaetulla
A diurnal, semi-arboreal snake that is equally at home in the thatched roof of a countryside hut. This is an extremely agile and fast-moving snake, and employs an active hunting technique, continually moving through tree branches in search of its main food - juicy tree-frogs! When threatened they give an intimidating threat display (FPREP230PH), opening the mouth wide and performing dummy strikes - though they do not bite, they simply hit you with their head. However this is usually more than enough to make you think twice about approaching a second time.
Click the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPREP229PH) Adult, PN San Rafael (Alberto Esquivel undated).
FIGURE 2 - (FPREP230PH) Same individual threat display (Alberto Esquivel undated).
FIGURE 3 - (FPREP231PH) Adult, Estancia Kanguery, PN San Rafael (Lars Hansen March 2006).
FIGURE 4 - (FPREP232PH) Same individual underside (Lars Hansen March 2006).
FIGURE 5 - (FPREP233PH) Adult roadkill dorsal view, Ruta Trans-Chaco km350 (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 6 - (FPREP234PH) Same inidividual ventral view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 7 - (FPREP235PH) Same inidividual lateral head view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 8 - (FPREP236PH) Same inidividual dorsal head view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 9 - (FPREP237PH) Same inidividual ventral head view (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3
FIGURE 4

FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5

FIGURE 5
FIGURE 6

FIGURE 6
FIGURE 7

FIGURE 7
FIGURE 8

FIGURE 8
FIGURE 9

FIGURE 9