SPECIES: Denisonia maculata — Ornamental Snake
CLASSIFICATION: Vulnerable
Found in Queensland from Townsville and nearly all the way down to Bundaberg is the Ornamental Snake. As far as snakes go, this species only grows to 50cm in length, is brown, grey-black or black in colouring with lighter coloured body scales and often darker streaks or flecks. Their diet consists of frogs and not much else. Frogs on this snake's dinner list include the Striped Burrowing Frog, the Green Tree Frog and the Spotted Marsh Frog just to name a few. Going one step further, the Ornamental Snake prefers habitat within or close to where its frog prey is found. Creepy but necessary.
Under threat from habitat loss through clearing, habitat fragmentation and degradation - not to mention Cane toads and predation by other feral species. The Ornamental Snake isn't the stealthiest of snakes by nature, so relatively easy to spot. This probably doesn't do the species any favours in the snakes, whoops, stakes of survival.
Photo: Stewart Macdonald