Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
birds are seasonal visitors to the forest, returning to the rainforest when flowers
and fruit are no longer available.
Bulbuls, Old World Warblers, thrushes, flycatchers, shrikes, and babblers are in-
sectivorous birds of the seasonal forests found traveling in flocks of mixed species.
They all tend to be small and drab brown in color. Different species search for insects
on different parts of a plant, such as the leaves, twigs, or tree trunks. Other forest
birds include starlings, robins, drongos, woodpeckers, piculets, and barbets. The
predatory birds of the forest include osprey, fish eagles found along waterways, and
eagles, buzzards, hawks, kites, and falconets. They are all excellent hunters with
diversified diets of fish, reptiles, small rodents, and other small mammals.
In the Australasia subregion, birds have diverged greatly in appearance and
behavior. A number of endemic ground doves, pigeons, parrots, lorikeets, honeyeat-
ers, figbirds, and thrushes are present on the eastern Indonesian archipelago. Parrots
and lorikeets are more abundant in the East Malesian subregion than in the west.
Reptiles and Amphibians
Snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and a vast array of frogs, toads, and caecilians
inhabit the seasonal forests. They are terrestrial, arboreal, fossorial, or aquatic.
More than a hundred different tropical snakes are found in the Asian-Pacific region
with less than 10 percent considered poisonous. Poisonous snakes include cobras,
vipers, and adders. Two cobra species, the king and the Indian cobra, are found in
this region. The king cobra is the most deadly and is much larger than other cobras.
Its venom is a potent neurotoxin that affects the nerve and respiratory systems. The
Indian cobra is a medium-size snake that feeds on rodents, lizards, and frogs. Its
venom damages the nervous system of the prey, paralyzing and often killing it. In
East Malesia, several other venomous snakes can be found. They include the red-
bellied black snake, the highly venomous eastern brown snake, and the less venom-
ous brown tree snake.
Some of the venomous vipers in the forests include the Malayan pit viper; hun-
dred pace viper; hump-nose and palm vipers; and the South Asia, bamboo, and
temple pit vipers.
Nonpoisonous snakes in the Asian-Pacific region include pythons and tree
snakes. The large reticulated python, Indian python, and Timor python along with
green tree pythons are present in the region. Australia is also home to the carpet
python and amethystine python. Tree snakes are smaller and often beautiful snakes
that live in the trees eating birds, eggs, small arboreal mammals, and reptiles. They
are fast and expert climbers. Their coloration, similar to leaves and bark, provides
good camouflage.
Ground-dwelling snakes include racers, rat snakes, keel backs, pipe snakes, and
burrowing 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 region.
