Wild Fest 2013 Coverage!

Today was the 2013 Wild Fest! I had no idea how to get there or how big it would be. It turned out to be relatively easy to find and a small exhibit that fit into a Sunday afternoon nicely. A lot of wildlife centers in IL were present. So, without further ado...pictures!

SOAR (Save Our American Raptors) had a booth at the show. FYI, "raptors" here means "Birds of prey" - let's not go Jurassic Park here. They had a lot of owls, a peregrine falcon (the fastest animal in the world) and a bald eagle. While we were not allowed to touch the raptors, they were still awesome to see. How often do you get up-close and personal with a bald eagle, after all?

Animals for Awareness had a lot. Parrots, hedgehogs, and an albino male boa were pretty much par for the course. What I did not expect was the kinkajou - a smallish Central and South American mammal related to raccoons. She was very active, so unfortunately, my pictures sucked. Fret not; I will call them about volunteering opportunities.



Incredible Bats was just that: A bunch of awesome fruit bats that people could see right in front of them. Both species (Egyptian and Straw-Colored) were from Africa, which is usually not praised fro its fruit bats. Alas, bats are nocturnal, and these guys were not very interested in the fruit we offered them.

Jim Nesci is something of a legend among reptile people. He uses exotic reptiles for a lot of educational shows and appears regularly at ReptileFest and NARBC. We just missed his big display involving an albino Burmese python. BUBBA was there, too; check out the little girl getting a ride on an alligator's back!

Finally, Big Run Wolf Ranch made it to this awesome exhibition. Neither Shanoa nor Zeus wanted to show up; instead of the standard gray wolf, we got to see Canuck (sp?), a British Columbian wolf. These wolves are actually the ranch owner's favorite, sparting dark coats, brilliant yellow-green eyes, and a white mark on the chest. It's a shame I couldn't figure out how to get my camera to shoot right. Kirby II was there as well.

This was a pretty awesome event, if small. With only so much space to work with and so much time, it's pretty easy to see everything in an hour. Stick around for a show; you won't regret it.

Green Tree Python and Emerald Tree Boa.

I know, I know - another snake entry. You're probably getting sick of these, but this is an entry I've owed you all for almost two years, now. To sweeten the deal, it's a double header...with good reason.

Look at the two snakes below. Tell me if you can tell that they aren't the same species.

Despite looking very, very, very similar, the two snakes above are not even the same type of snake. The one on the left is a green tree python (Morelia viridis); the one on the right (with the large white stripes) is an emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus). The GTP is native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Australia; the ETB is native to the rainforests of South America.

So, fact blitz: Both the ETB and GTP are green, arboreal constrictors that get roughly 6 feet long as adults. The young ones are usually either red or yellow in color, changing to bright green within a year. Both snakes will also loop a coil or two over a branch and set their heads dead center. In captivity, it can be really, really hard to tell them apart.

Remember when I said that snakes had some crazy convergent evolution goin' on? This is exactly what I meant. These two snakes live nowhere near each other. Unlike lions and tigers, which are genetically close enough to reproduce even though they've been separated for thousands of years, ETB's and GTP's aren't genetically compatible. Their similarity is solely based on the evolutionary process; because they adapted to the same environments, eat the same food, and so forth, they evolved similar adaptations. In this case, they happen to be creepily similar.

Yeah, umm...I'd wear a glove, too. This is an ETB.

Similar does not mean identical. For example, the emerald tree boa has, proportionately, the largest fangs of any non-venomous snake. The ETB eats birds to warrant these super-long fangs; for whatever reason, GTPs do not. ETB's also have more apparent white on them than do GTP's as a rule. Also, GTP's are a lot more common in captivity in general, even sporting a blue morph.

A few handy tricks if you're stuck identifying a random green snake in a tree and somebody asks, "hey, what is that?":

~ Emerald Tree Boas are from South America. GTPs are from Asia and Australia. Location is one of the main dividing points, here.

~Boas have live babies; pythons lay eggs. Even if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's gotta give birth like a duck to really be a duck.

~ Those TEETH. We do not advise testing this in the wild by sticking your hand over the snake's head. Hell, we don't even advise trying this at home. Messing with those fangs sounds like a Jackass bit waiting to happen.

~ Both of these are rather thick-bodied. If the snake in question is slender, it's probably one of the many types of vine snakes or some other colubrid. Some people apparently do not know the difference, so there ya go.

A blue GTP. More here.

Both the emerald tree boa and green tree python have a strong following in the exotic pet trade. GTP's in particular have a huge fanbase, both because of their diverse color morphs as adults and their cross-compatibility with another Morelia complex known as carpet pythons (who also SO deserve their own entry!). The ETB base is a bit smaller, but they are nonetheless particularly popular in the Netherlands. Both of these species are intermediate-level snakes requiring elaborate enclosures with humidity setups etc. These are not snakes you take out and play with; these are snakes that you spend thousands on a nice, realistic terrarium setup for, then show your friends that.

Creature Feature: Dumeril's Ground Boa.

You can tell that I was trying to avoid this one. After all, unless the week dictates otherwise, you all are usually subjected to a dosage of at least one weird snake per every seven days. This often involves me going on some rant that only makes sense to herpetologists.

Unfortunately for you, Madagascar has no such limits. If I ever do an Australia Week (or two), there will be even more snakes. You're lucky getting off with only one when Madagascar is concerned.


Dumeril's Boa on Display by =KuroKarasu on deviantART

Photographs do not do the Dumeril's boa (Boa dumerili) justice. I have seen these snakes up close. They are amazing to behold; even my mom liked them! They have a floral pattern on their backs and real kanji tattoos decorating their sides.

I'm not even kidding. The pattern on the sides of a Dumeril's boa looks uncannily like the Chinese symbol (and Japanese kanji for) old.


Kinda creepy.

Dumeril's boas live in the semi-arid regions of Madagascar. They eat birds, lizards, small mammals and occasionally other snakes. As with all boids, females are larger than males. These snakes, like almost everything else on Madagascar, is threatened by habitat loss. Most captive specimens are at least somewhat inbred due to trade restrictions.



Besides being beautiful, Dumeril's boas are one of few Old World boa species. As a rule of thumb, boas are the only constrictors in the New World, and pythons are the only constrictors in the Old World. Africa is smack dab between the two areas; it should come as no surprise that it is home to both constrictor families. Exception to the rule is still exceptional.