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Births, Hatchings, Acquisitions
By Donna Bear, Curator of Species Management and Jasmine Alvarado, Species Management Officer
White-lipped island pit viper
(Trimeresurus insularis)
The white-lipped island pitviper, along with the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, large-eyed cat snake, two-striped forest pitviper and western Gaboon viper acquired earlier this year, were confiscated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) as part of a multi-year investigation. Individuals were uncovered attempting to sell approximately 200 snakes (24 different species) that were illegally imported into the state of Florida as part of the pet trade. The FWC has strict permitting laws and regulations regarding the captivity, breeding, importation and sale of venomous and non-native reptiles.
The venomous, white-lipped island viper is native to Indonesia and BaliTimor-Leste. While typically green, there are also yellow and blue variants. The beautiful viper can only be found on Komodo Island. Arboreal, they spend the majority of their lives in trees. Their coloring helps them camouflage, providing the perfect advantage to capture their prey, like small birds, frogs, lizards and rodents. They can inhabit tropical forests, dry woodlands or rural areas, depending on where they can find food. The white-lipped island viper is ovoviviparous, meaning the female will give birth to live young after having grown within individual eggs inside her. Once born, these vipers are immediately independent, but they are also ready to defend themselves. When threatened, they will open their mouth showing their venom-filled fangs and curve their body into an s-shape, ready to strike at any second. While a newborn viper bite might not be fatal, it can cause pain, swelling and internal and external bleeding. Heed its warning and stay back.
Wattled Crane
(Bugeranus carunculatus)
One of the largest cranes in the world, the wattled crane can grow up to 5.7 feet tall with a maximum wingspan of 7.9 feet wide with an average weight of 18 pounds when fully grown. Native to sub-Saharan Africa, the wattled crane thrives best in wetlands. Their long beaks are perfect for digging through the soil, foraging for insects, snails, small vertebrates and various aquatic vegetation. Breeding season varies depending on water levels since the wattled crane builds their nest by piling vegetation into a mound with a small moat surrounding it. The clutch size is the smallest of all cranes, usually just one egg, but on occasion two. The incubation and fledgling period of the egg and subsequent chick is the longest of any crane. Incubation lasts for 33 to 36 days then in 90 to 130 days the chick is finally fledged. When hatched, the wattle crane chick already has a slightly developed wattle. In captivity, the wattled crane does not always breed successfully, so we feel incredibly lucky to have another chick to add to our animal population here at the Zoo.
Blue-eyed black lemur
(Eulemur flavifrons)
Native to Madagascar, the blue-eyed black lemur is one of the 25 most endangered primate species in the world due to habitat loss and illegal trafficking in fur, meat and the pet trade. Aside from the brown spider monkey, this species of lemur is the only other non-human primate that has blue eyes. A rare sight in the wild indeed. A sexually dimorphic species, blue-eyed black lemurs' sexes can be easily determined by their fur color. Males are black. Females and newborns are a reddish-tan color. If the infant is male, the fur will start to grow black between four to eight weeks of age. While usually one offspring is born at a time, twins do occur. The baby lemur will cling to its mother for the first three weeks of its life. After that, they will start to explore on their own, but still stay close to the mother for food and protection. It will start to eat solid foods at four to six weeks but will not fully wean until five to six months. Mainly frugivores (fruit eaters), they will also eat leaves, berries, seeds and occasionally insects. Originally believed to be a subspecies of the black lemur ( Eulemur macaco ), the blue-eyed black lemur was not classified as its own species until 2008.
