Chuck Ripper: Green Tree Python

Artist: Chuck Ripper
1929 -
Nationality: American
Artwork Year: 1999
Image Size: 12.5 by 14.5 inches
Overall Size: 15 by 17.75 inches
Medium: Gouache Water Color On Cold Press Illus. Board

Pythons belong to the subfamily Pythoninae of the family Boidae. The Green Tree Python is found only in temperate and tropical regions of the Old World, including eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, northeastern Australia and the Solomon and Aru Islands. This brightly colored arboreal snake spends its entire life cycle in the foliage of tree-tops, where it feeds and drinks, breeds and incubates its eggs. The Green Tree Python is a vivid green, with broken vertebral stripes of white or dull yellow, as well as spots of the same colors. Patterns are highly variable and some specimens may display shades of blue as well. This disruptive coloration provides the Green Tree Python with very effective camouflage in the treetops. Hatchlings are typically lemon-yellow with broken stripes and spots of purple and brown, red or blue. Adult coloration is acquired after 6 to 12 months. The Green Tree Python usually forages for its meals at night, where it's long and very sharp teeth are useful in capturing the birds and small mammals that form the mainstay of its diet. A prehensile tail allows the snake to hang from tree branches while it devours its prey. The greatest threat to the Green Tree Python's survival comes from loss of habitat due to extensive logging and clearing for agriculture. To ensure that international trade does not endanger its survival, the Green Tree Python is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood® First Day Cover for the UN 33¢ Green Tree Python stamp issued April 22, 1999.

Artwork Copyright © 1999 Unicover Corporation. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Images of the Artwork may be watermarked and/or digitally watermarked. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the copyright.

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