Common Golden Tree Snake
Chrysopelea ornata • Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Colubridae, Subfamily: Colubrinae, Genus: Chrysopelea, Species: Chrysopelea ornata
South and Southeast Asia, including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and parts of Indonesia and the Philippines.
Look up Common Golden Tree Snake in the Snake Encyclopedia →Family
Order: Squamata, Suborder: Serpentes, Family: Colubridae, Subfamily: Colubrinae, Genus: Chrysopelea, Species: Chrysopelea ornata
Conservation
Listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide distribution, adaptability to modified habitats, and generally stable populations, though local habitat loss poses minor localized threats.
Physical Description
Slender, laterally compressed body adapted for arboreal locomotion. The dorsal coloration displays a striking contrast of a dark, almost black head with yellow or green cross-bands and spots, and a greenish-yellow body marked with black scale edges and distinct reddish or orange rosettes.
Size & Dimensions
Adult specimen length typically ranges from 100 to 130 cm, with maximum recorded lengths reaching up to 150 cm.
Habitat
Primarily arboreal inhabitants of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, lowland rainforests, and secondary growth. Frequently found inhabiting gardens, plantations, and rural human settlements near forested patches.
Diet & Feeding
Active diurnal forager specializing in arboreal prey, primarily feeding on lizards, geckos, tree frogs, and occasionally small birds or bats captured in the canopy.
Reproduction
Oviparous species that typically breeds during the warmer months, with females depositing clutches ranging from 6 to 12 elongated eggs in rotting tree trunks or moist soil crevices.
Look-alikes
Frequently confused with other members of the genus Chrysopelea, such as Chrysopelea paradisi (Paradise Tree Snake), which features more prominent yellow or red spots on a black background, and Chrysopelea pelias, distinguished by different banding patterns.
Conservation Status
Listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide distribution, adaptability to modified habitats, and generally stable populations, though local habitat loss poses minor localized threats.
Cultural Significance
Acts as an important natural predator in controlling arboreal insectivorous pest populations such as lizards and rodents, and occasionally features in local folklore regarding gliding reptiles.
Notable Features
Famous for its specialized gliding locomotion, where it flattens its body into a concave shape and undulates through the air to glide between trees across distances of several dozen meters.