Green pit viper (Craspedocephalus trigonocephalus) arboreal camouflage: leaf-perch foraging heights?
What vegetation perching heights and dawn foraging patterns characterize the endemic arboreal Green Pit Viper in Sinharaja rainforest margins?
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3 Answers from travellers
The endemic Green Pit Viper (Pala Polonga) is an arboreal ambush predator inhabiting wet-zone rainforests and adjacent tea plantations. During morning hours (7:30 AM to 10:00 AM), specimens position themselves between 0.5 and 2.0 meters above the ground, coiling around slender stems of wild Ochlandra bamboo or tea bushes. Their vivid green dorsal scales with black pattern bands mimic dappled sunlight through wet leaves. Using loreal heat-sensing pits located between eye and nostril, they detect infrared body heat from foraging skinks, shrub frogs, and rodents.
Tea pluckers face the highest bite frequency when reaching blind hands into bush canopies; wearing light protective gloves significantly mitigates envenomation.
Their prehensile tail anchors firmly around timber branches, allowing them to strike forward up to half their body length without losing arboreal grip.
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