Content deleted Content added
BhagyaMani (talk | contribs) m Reverted 1 edit by 2603:9001:953F:11E:7188:EF12:D675:8EA8 (talk) to last revision by ยูอีวีเอการเรียนรู้ |
|||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 9 users not shown) | |||
Line 20:
}}
The '''ball python''' ('''''Python regius'''''), also called the '''royal python''', is a [[Python (genus)|python]] species native to [[West Africa|West]] and [[Central Africa]], where it lives in [[grassland]]s, shrublands and open forests. This [[nonvenomous]] [[Constriction|constrictor]] is the smallest of the African pythons, growing to a maximum length of {{cvt|182|cm}}.<ref name=McD99>{{cite book |author1=McDiarmid, R. W. |author2=Campbell, J. A. |author3=Touré, T. |year=1999 |title=Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference |volume=1 |publisher=Herpetologists' League |___location=Washington, DC |isbn=1-893777-00-6}}</ref> The name "ball python" refers to its tendency to curl into a ball when [[stress (biology)|stress]]ed or [[frightened]].<ref name=Meh87>{{cite book |author=Mehrtens, J. M. |year=1987 |title=Living Snakes of the World in Color |___location=New York |publisher=Sterling Publishers |isbn=080696460X |chapter=Ball Python, Royal Python (''Python regius'') |page=62 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/livingsnakesofwo00mehr/page/62}}</ref>
== Taxonomy ==
Line 33:
==Distribution and habitat==
The ball python is native to west [[Sub Saharan Africa]] from [[Senegal]] through [[Cameroon]] to [[Sudan]] and [[Uganda]].<ref name=iucn/>
It prefers [[Grassland|grasslands]], [[savannas]], and sparsely wooded areas.<ref name="Meh87"/>
==Behavior and ecology==
Ball pythons are typically [[Nocturnality|nocturnal]] or [[Crepuscular animal|crepuscular]], meaning that they are active during dusk, dawn, and/or nighttime.<ref name="Luiselli and Angelici 1998" /> This species is known for its defense strategy that involves coiling into a tight ball when threatened, with its head and neck tucked away in the middle. This defense behavior is typically employed in lieu of biting, which makes this species easy for humans to handle and has contributed to their popularity as a pet.<ref name="Meh87"/>
In the wild, ball pythons favor mammal burrows and other underground hiding places, where they also [[Aestivation|aestivate]]. Males tend to display more semi-arboreal behaviors, whilst females tend towards terrestrial behaviors.<ref name="Luiselli and Angelici 1998" />
===Diet===
The diet of the ball python in the wild consists mostly of [[Small mammal|small mammals]] and birds. Young ball pythons of less than {{cvt|70|cm}} prey foremost on small birds. Ball pythons longer than {{cvt|100|cm}} prey foremost on small mammals. Males prey more frequently on birds, and females more frequently on mammals.<ref name="Luiselli and Angelici 1998">{{cite journal |last1=Luiselli |first1=L. |last2=Angelici |first2=F. M. |name-list-style=amp |title=Sexual size dimorphism and natural history traits are correlated with intersexual dietary divergence in royal pythons (''Python regius'') from the rainforests of southeastern Nigeria |journal=Italian Journal of Zoology |date=1998 |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=183–185 |doi=10.1080/11250009809386744}}</ref> Rodents make up a large percentage of the diet; [[Gambian pouched rat]]s, [[black rat]]s, [[Oenomys|rufous-nosed rat]]s, [[Dasymys|shaggy rat]]s, and [[Lemniscomys|striped grass mice]] are among the species consumed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Python_regius/ |title=''Python regius'' (Ball Python, Royal Python)|website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref>
===Reproduction===
Line 62:
==In culture==
The ball python is particularly revered by the [[Igbo people]] in southeastern [[Nigeria]], who consider it symbolic of the earth, being an animal that travels so close to the ground. Even Christian Igbos treat ball pythons with great care whenever they come across one in a village or on someone's property; they either let them roam or pick them up gently and return them to a forest or field away from houses. If one is accidentally killed, many communities on Igbo land still build a coffin for the snake's remains and give it a short funeral.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hambly |first1=Wilfrid D. |title=Serpent worship in Africa |journal=Fieldiana Anthropology |series=Publication. Field Museum of Natural History |date=1931 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=1–85 |jstor=29782194 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.7137 |hdl=10111/UIUCOCA:serpentworshipin211hamb |oclc=678589753 |url=https://archive.org/details/serpentworshipin211hamb |doi-access=free }}{{Obsolete source|reason=This source is roughly 90 years old, and as a source of anthropology is likely to have been affected by attitudes towards non-Western cultures of the time. An updated source is required.|date=May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Udengwu |first1=Ngozi |last2=Erojikwe |first2=Ikechukwu |last3=Nnanna |first3=Ndubuisi |title=Cultural transformation and the trials of the sacred python in text and context |journal=Creative Artist: A Journal of Theatre and Media Studies |date=2019 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=22–49 |url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/cajtms/article/view/214874 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Drewal |first1=Henry John |title=Interpretation, Invention, and Re-Presentation in the Worship of Mami Wata |journal=Journal of Folklore Research |date=1988 |volume=25 |issue=1/2 |pages=101–139 |jstor=3814277 }}</ref> In northwestern [[Ghana]], there is a taboo towards pythons as people consider them a savior and cannot hurt or eat them. According to folklore, a python once helped them flee from their enemies by transforming into a log to allow them to cross a river.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Diawuo |first1=Francis |last2=Issifu |first2=Abdul Karim |title=Exploring the African traditional belief systems in natural resource conservation and management in Ghana |journal=Journal of Pan African Studies |date=December 2015 |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=115–132 |id={{Gale|A441766901}} |s2cid=146125167 |url=https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol8no9/8.9-10-FDiawuo.pdf }}</ref>
==References==
| |||