Reptiles Of Tropical Africa
A WARM climate, such as that of tropical Africa, seems specially favourable for
the life of those creeping forms of animals known as Reptiles. In tropical climates,
therefore, reptiles are found in much larger numbers, and greater variety, and they
reach a much larger size than in a cold climate such as that of England. Reptiles
include such animals as snakes, lizards, crocodiles and tortoises. Like the mammals
and birds, reptiles have a bony skeleton, but they differ from them in that they
have a covering of scales instead of hairs or feathers. They are cold-blooded instead
of warm-blooded, and generally produce their young by means of eggs like the birds.
Perhaps the most common reptile in West Africa is the lizard.
This animal is a small
flattened head, a neck that passes gradually into the long body, a long tapering
tall, and four legs with clawed feet. The mouth is large and there are upper and
lower rows of tiny teeth. The tongue is long and forked at the end; it is used for catching insects, and can be shot out very quickly. Lizards are small, very active animals, and are often beautifully colored. Their food is chiefly insects and worms,
although at time.
They have been known to eat off the soft leaves of very young
plants. A lizard is able to drop its tail; so that if an enemy catches it by the
tall, the lizard will drop its tail and escape; later, it will grow a new one. Geckos
are the pale yellowish almost transparent lizards which one sees frequently in many
houses in Africa. They have curious pads on their toes which enable them to stick
to and climb over walls and even ceilings.
A gecko's tongue is not like that of
the usual lizard, but it is short and broad therefore, catch their insects not by
the tongue but by snapping at them with their mouths. You must
have all seen geckos
busy on a night when there are flying ants about; they will eat until they are literally
full, and the body so stretched that the last ant is perhaps sticking in the gecko's
throat half-swallowed.
Chameleons
are related to lizards but their shape is different. They have a large head with
very large and prominent eyes. These sees can be moved in all directions separately,
and have circular eyelids. Chameleons climb on shrubs and trees, and their feet
are well adapted for clinging to twigs and small branches; the tail also can take
hold of small branches. But the most remarkable thing about these animals is their
power of changing color. Within a minutes a chameleon can change from brown to green,
green to yellow, yellow to brown, etc., and this change depends on the color of
the animal’s surrounding.
If it has been among green leaves, it will be green, if
it comes to a dark-colored branch it will change to brown and so on. This power
renders the animal similar in color to the things round it, and so makes it very
difficult for its enemies to see it. This is a striking example of protective coloration.
Snakes are reptiles without limbs. They have narrow bodies, the skin of which is
covered with scales. At certain periods, the outer scaly covering is shod, a new
covering of scales having grown underneath. One very curious thing about snakes
is that the mouth can be opened very wide indeed by means of a special arrangement
between the jaws. In this way a snake can take hold of an animal far larger than
that, and can swallow it, gradually digesting it as it does so, and often taking
several days to consume the whole.
The prey of snakes is in this way always swallowed
whole. Snakes have numerous small tee, and poisonous snakes have in addition a pair
of long hollow-pointed teeth called fangs A snake poisons its victim by biting;
the poison is contained in a bag at the base of each fang, and when the snake bites
its prey the poison bag becomes slightly squeezed and the poison passes down through
the hollow canal in the fang into the bite. The poison is used by snakes in defense
and for the purpose of killing their prey. Most poisonous snakes are brightly colored.
There are many kinds of poisonous snakes in Africa, but the largest snake in this
continent is the python, which is non-poisonous.
Among the best-known poisonous
snakes are the Puff Adders, Spitting Cobras, and deadly Mambas. The Puff Adder is
a thick-set snake with very ~ fangs and poison glands. They are slow in movement.
They eat a large number of birds which nest m the ground. (Bitis.) The Spitting
Cobras defend themselves by ~ poison into the face and eyes of a disturbing enemy.
(Naga.) The Mambas are tree snakes which are green when young, and black as they
grow older. They are slim and very quick in their movements. They attack by biting
and their bite is the most poisonous of all snakes. (Dendraspis.)
To treat a snake-bite,
ligature the bitten limb very tightly above the bite. Cut the wound with a razor
or sharp knife, and put into it solid potassium permanganate. Relax the ligature
after about 20 minutes. In spite of the fact that snakes possess no ~ a snake can
move with great rapidity by means of muscular movements of its whole body. It has
been said that a snake can "out climb the monkey, out swim the fish, out leap the
zebra, outwrestle the athlete and crush the tiger." This is almost wholly true.
Crushing is the method that large snakes
make use of to kill their prey; they wind
themselves round the animal and soon crush the life out of it. Crocodiles are the
largest reptiles, and are to he found in most of the rivers and lakes of Tropical
Africa.
They will often lie for hours hidden in the mud of the banks of rivers, or in the water itself ,waiting for some animal to pass which they can seize in
their powerful jaws and devour. Crocodile
feed chiefly on other
animals. They will
attack most of the larger animals including man, although they allow certain small
bird. to climb on to them to remove lice, etc., and even to enter their mouths.
The body of the crocodile is covered with very hard scales on the back and less
hard scales underneath. The long and powerful tail is used for swimming as well
as for beating off or disabling enemies. Crocodiles attain a very large size, up
to 18 feet in length The eggs of the crocodile are slightly larger than those of
a hen, and are laid in holes in river banks and covered with mud until they hatch
out. The mother takes care of the young, and will protect them from attacks of other
animals and even from male crocodiles which would eat them.
Tortoises and turtles
differ from all other reptiles in having their scaly covering so hard that it forms
a solid bony shield both above and below. This shield completely covers their bodies except for a hole at each end through which their head or tail may he seen. This
shield is a very great protection -fist any possible enemies, and is very necessary
in the case of tortoises which are slow-moving animals, and cannot quickly escape
from any danger which may threaten the tortoises live on the land
and turtles in
the sea; in the case of the latter the feet are modified to look somewhat like fish’s
fins. Both the eggs and the flesh of turtles are good to
eat. The scaly covering, or tortoise shell, is used for many ornamental purposes. Reptiles on the whole cannot
he said to he of any great importance to man. Lizards and snakes provide lizard
and snake-skin leather, and the scaly covering on the under surface of the crocodile
is also made into leather. Turtles provide food and "tortoise shell".