🐍Brown tree snake
The brown tree snake, also known as the brown catsnake, is an arboreal rear-fanged colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and many islands in northwestern Melanesia. The snake is slender, which facilitates climbing, and can reach up to 2 metres in length. Its coloration may also vary, some being brown, green, or even red. Brown tree snakes prey on a wide range of animals, from invertebrates to birds and even some small mammals. It is one of the very few colubrids found in Australia, where elapids are more common.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.
- Body mass
- 4.75 kg
- Body length
- 2.2 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 13 years
Everything we know about the Brown tree snake
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass4.75 kgrecord 0.87 kg · ReptTraitsAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Body length2.2 mmaximum recordedReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan13 yearsrecord 19 years · ReptTraitsAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Gestation77 daysAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
DietCarnivorousReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleNocturnalReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
VenomousYesReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Snout–vent length1.08 mmaximum recordedReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l4.7 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Brown tree snake yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- superorderLepidosauria
- orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
- infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
- genusBoiga
All 12 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- orderSauria
- superorderLepidosauria
- orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
- infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
- genusBoiga
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