Reticulated Python

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context

• A juvenile reticulated python was sighted inside IIT Madras.
• Based on the description given to Guindy National Park authorities, the python is around 7 to 8 feet long.

Reticulated Python

About

• Reticulated pythons are the world’s longest and third-heaviest snakes after the green anaconda and Burmese python.

Range

• The reticulated python is a python species native to South and Southeast Asia.
• In India, they are found in the wild only in the Nicobar Islands.

Habitat

• The reticulated python lives in rainforests, woodlands, and nearby grasslands.
• It is also associated with rivers and is found in areas with nearby streams and lakes.

Characteristics

• It is an excellent swimmer, has been reported far out at sea, and has colonized many small islands within its range.
• Like all pythons, it is a non-venomous constrictor.

Conservation Status

• It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of its wide distribution.

Economic Importance

• In several countries in its range, it is hunted for its skin, for use in traditional medicine, and for sale as pets.
• Due to this, reticulated pythons are one of the most economically important reptiles worldwide.

Guindy National Park

About

• It is one of the last remnants of the tropical dry evergreen forest of the Coromandel Coast.

Location

• Guindy National Park is a protected area of Tamil Nadu, located in Chennai.
• It is the 8th-smallest National Park in India and one of the very few national parks situated inside a city.

Ecology

• The ecosystem consists of the rare tropical dry evergreen scrub and thorn forests receiving about 1200 mm of rainfall annually.
• This vegetation has been reclassified as the Albizia amara community.

Flora

• The park has a dry evergreen scrub and thorn forest, grasslands and water bodies.
• It has over 350 species of plants including shrubs, climbers, herbs and grasses and over 24 variety of trees, including the sugar-apple, Atlantia monophylla, wood-apple, and neem.

Fauna

• There are over 14 species of mammals including blackbuck, chital or spotted deer, jackal, small Indian civet, common palm civet, bonnet macaque, hyena, pangolin, hedgehog, common mongoose and three-striped palm squirrel.
• The park also has black-naped hare and several species of bats and rodents.

Flagship Species

• The near-threatened blackbuck, considered the flagship species of the park, was introduced in 1924 by Lord Willingdon and has seen a population decline in recent times.
• Both Blackbucks and Chitals were a native faunal element of the park.