Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Their coloration, similar to leaves and bark, provides good camouflage. The para-
dise tree snake of Borneo is a brilliant green color. It is often called a flying snake,
as it is able to flatten its body and glide from tree to tree or across small rivers.
Other large tree snakes are called cat snakes because they have vertically oval
pupils, like those of a cat. A number of mildly venomous whip snakes are also
found in this region.
Ground snakes include racers, rat snakes, keel backs, pipe snakes, and burrow-
ing blind or worm snakes. Kukri snakes, reed snakes, little brown snakes, slug
snakes, wolf snakes, and mock vipers are other common forest dwellers in the
Asian-Pacific rainforest.
More than 148 species of lizards inhabit the rainforest, ranging in size from a
few inches to 8 ft (2.4 m) giants. Lizards, geckos, and skinks are present in both
subregions of the rainforest. Agama lizards are common and many different
ones—including earless lizards; green-crested, forest-crested, and changeable liz-
ards; and the Borneo anglehead agama and flying dragons—inhabit the rainforest.
The flying dragon or Draco lizard is brightly colored and moves about the trees by
gliding. It has skin flaps that fan out like an umbrella as it leaps from tree to tree.
Several other gliding lizards—including the black-bearded, spotted, five-banded,
Sulawesi, Blanford, and common gliding lizards—make the rainforest their home.
The largest lizards of the forest are the monitor lizards (the varanids). They are
an ancient group found in Africa, central and southern Asia, Malaysia, the Indone-
sian islands, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. Monitors are strong, diurnal rep-
tiles with long necks and tails. They range in length and weight from the short-
tailed monitor at about 8 in (200 mm) and 0.7 oz (20 g) to the Komodo dragon at
10 ft (3 m) and 120 lb (54 kg). The Komodo dragon is the world's largest lizard. It
is restricted to the islands of Komodo and Flores in Indonesia. Monitors have a
varied diet, with small monitors taking fruit and mollusks, and the larger monitors
attacking and killing large mammals such as deer. Large monitors also eat carrion.
Golden geckos, house geckos, Indo-Pacific geckos, tree geckos, flying geckos
(Ptychozon), and Tokay geckos all inhabit this rainforest region. Tokay geckos,
with a length of around 14 in (350 mm), are one of the largest geckos alive today.
They live in trees and on cliffs in the tropical rainforests of northeast India and the
Asian-Pacific region. The flying gecko is named for its ability to glide from tree to
tree within the forest canopy. Flying geckos launch from branches while the air
pressure flattens their body, limbs, and tail, extending the surface area as it glides.
Skinks are the most diverse group of lizards worldwide, and the greatest num-
bers of them occur in the Asian-Pacific region. They are slender and fast with
pointed snouts and small limbs. Their movements resemble those of snakes. Skinks
are carnivorous and eat invertebrates and small rodents. Tree skinks, sun skinks,
brown skinks, slender skinks, and mangrove skinks among others call the Asian-
Pacific rainforest home.
A number of tortoises and turtles live within the forest or along rivers. The Bur-
mese brown tortoise and spiny hill tortoise are forest dwellers. The black pond
