Black
headed python is a very common snake to see.
It is found in the northern half of
Australia, including Cape York peninsula.
During the cooler months
(which is the high season for Cape York trips), this snake (Aspidites melanocephalus)
becomes active during
the day time and often
crosses roads and tracks, so it is easy to see, without any effort,
through your car window.
It is also one of the most distinctive snakes, easy to recognise thanks
to its black head
and striped body
and a thin tip of tail.
And it is harmless, non
venomous and usually reluctant to bite.
It can
bite, though, and should always be handled with respect
like all other
snakes.
Harmless
Snake But It Can Bite
During
the Wet
Season and particularly the build-up, when the climate is hot, black headed python is nocturnal, but during the cooler months it is
easy to come
across it during the day time.
Some people, knowing it is a python
which are harmless snakes,
will go close disturbing it.
You know it's getting too much for it when it starts hissing loudly.
It can also open its
mouth or strike
with a head butt,
even though it is
generally reluctant to
bite.
Bites have happened, however, and although
not poisonous, these snakes have powerful jaws and
can deliver a
painful bite that may get infected and take time to heal.
Not a good
thing to happen if you are somewhere remote.
Appearance
and Thermoregulation
Also
known as rock python
and tar pot snake, this python grows up to three metres
long and weighs up to 7kg, but is usually smaller, about one and a half to two metres
long and weighs 3-4kg.
It has a slender body,
a bit
flattened, and its tail is thin.
It has a stripy pattern,
and colouring varies from shades of grey to brown (some apparently also
creamish, and even orangeish or yellow - those are more found in
western Queensland).
Whatever the exact colouring, the black headed python always has a very distinctive
shiny black head,
throat and neck.
It is believed that the black
head,
drawing the heat more efficiently than the rest of its body, serves as a solar panel
and heats
the rest of the body even if it's only the head that is exposed to the
sun.
That helps the snake to hide from predators, leaving the rest of
the body in its burrow.
Range
and Habitat of Black
Headed Python
Black
headed python is found
roughly in the northern
half of
Australia, including the Pilbara and Kimberley
regions in Western
Australia, northern and eastern half of Northern
Territory, and most of Queensland
(with the only exception of the very south).
They prefer humid to
semi arid areas
and avoid the driest regions like inland Western Australia and western
Northern Territory.
They live in coastal eucalypt forests, shrubland, heathland and
deserts, and they particluarly like rocky
areas and places near
water.
They shelter
under and amongst rocks and debris, in caves and rock crevices, in hollow logs, burrows and soil cracks, and
inside termite
mounds.
Diet
and Breeding
Like
other snakes, black
headed pythons
are carnivores, and they eat
whatever
they can get - frogs, birds, small mammals, but they particularly like other reptiles,
such as lizards
and other snakes
(even poisonous
ones, such as king
brown).
Like other pythons, they don't need poison to kill, they coil around the prey and
suffocate it.
Coiling is also used by females when incubatingtheir eggs, which they do for a few
months a year.
That happens during the hottest
time
of the year - the late Dry - the so-called build-up
season. Mating
occurs during the
coolest months (June-July), and five to ten eggs are laid per
clutch.
Once they hatch, the
young
start catching insects and small prey.
They are vulnerable
to predation, even
cannibalism, and they take up to five years to mature.
The individuals that do survive have not many predators except dingos.
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and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.
This complete 300 pages
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background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all
the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact
detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to
the Cape), at least 40 best
swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things -
from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception,
how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner).
Not to mention locals'
tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)
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This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.