Rare rhino snake breeds in captivity

Rare rhino snake breeds in captivity
This is the moment a rhino rat snake emerges from its shell in the first successful attempt to breed the rare species in a European zoo.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:03PM GMT 12 Nov 2008

London Zoo has bred a rare 'rhino' snake for the first time

The moment the rare 'rhino' snake emerged from its shell was captured on film Photo: ZSL
The snake has a long nose like an African rhino, though it comes from the mountains of Vietnam.

The young are also grey like the rhino but will turn green after about a year. The adults, that grow to about three feet (one metre) long and feed on geckos, frogs and rodents, are nicknamed the "green unicorn".

London Zoo managed to hatch eight rare rhino rat snakes, a first for a European Zoo, in the heated reptile house.

The species are found in relatively low numbers in the wild and only a couple have ever been found by scientists.

Therefore it is a great success for conservation of the species and the Zoological Society of London have already sent three of the young snakes to different zoos as part of an exchange programme to increase the captive population in Europe.

It is believed the snakes evolved their extraordinary noses to catch drinking water in the native rainforests.

Ian Stephen, assistant curator of herpetology at London Zoo, said the rare snakes are popular with visitors.

"They are one of the cutests snake you ever saw," he said. "If anyone comes to the zoo who does not like snakes, they warm to the rhino snake. It is a really beautiful and interesting so it is great we have managed to breed it."

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