Angolan Python
Python anchietae (Bocage, 1887)
Range: Southwestern Africa (southern Angola, northern Namibia)
Habitat: Dry open bush and grassland
Diet: Small Mammals and Birds, Lizards
Social Grouping: Solitary
Reproduction: Clutches of 4-5 (sometimes up to 10) eggs incubated 65-70 days. Hatchlings are approximately 15-20 centimeters long.
Lifespan: 30 Years
- Body length up to 1.8 meters. Weigh approximately 1.5-1.8 kilograms. Have distinctive "bead-like" scales (especially prominent on the head), an adaptation of their arid range (this arrangement helps trap moisture)
- Base color is reddish-brown (sometimes darker, almost black) with large, irregular white or cream-colored bands and spots. Yellow on the underside. The snake is often said to resemble a larger version of the ball python, one of the most commonly-kept pet snakes in the world
- Closely associated with rocky outcroppings. Active by day, taking shelter in small caves and crevices at night
- Sometimes called Anchieta's dwarf python, the Latin name honors the Portuguese explorer Jose de Anchieta
- Sought after in the international pet trade, but the inaccessibility of its range (made all the more treacherous in recent years by warfare and land-mining in Angola) has historically made it a rare species on the market
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