Native to the rainforests of the Amazon Basin in South America, particularly in countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, this snake is a true icon of the treetops. With its vivid green coloration and jagged white or yellow markings running along its back, the emerald tree boa looks like a living jewel hanging from the trees. It spends nearly its entire life off the ground, draped over branches in a classic coil-with-head-in-the-middle pose—perfectly still and perfectly camouflaged in the green canopy.

What makes the emerald tree boa especially unique is not just its beauty, but also its adaptation to a tree-dwelling, or “arboreal,” lifestyle. It has a long, muscular body and a strong, prehensile tail that it uses like an extra limb to grip branches. This tail helps it move slowly and securely through the trees, where it hunts by ambush. The boa strikes with lightning speed, grabbing birds, bats, and small mammals with its sharp teeth, then coils around its prey to suffocate it before swallowing it whole. Although it looks a bit like a python, the emerald tree boa is actually a boa species—and unlike pythons, boas give birth to live young instead of laying eggs.

One particularly fascinating feature of the emerald tree boa is its heat-sensing ability. Along its upper lip, it has small pits that detect the body heat of warm-blooded animals, allowing it to hunt even in complete darkness. This makes it a highly effective nocturnal predator.

Interestingly, baby emerald tree boas look nothing like the adults when they’re born—they’re usually bright orange or red. Over time, they slowly change color, developing their signature green as they mature, which adds an extra layer of intrigue to their life cycle.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Brazil

2014

French Guiana

2014

Guyana

2014

Suriname

2014

Venezuela

2014