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Day/Night changes
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by Phobos on December 14, 2008
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One cool but little know trait of Crotalus pifanorum is the it changes color intensities from day time to night time.
To demonstrate I took pictures in it's bin, under the same lighting conditions, camera settings, and distance (more or less). I did not alter the photo's in any way to change color balence of contrast & brightness. The only thing I did was add my copyright and reduce both images to 1200x800 ~
Please go to this address to see the difference.
http://thereptileroom.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=14013
Al
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RE: Day/Night changes
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by pictigaster1 on December 14, 2008
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A friend imported some of these from costarica. That is one of the many interesting aspects of this species,awesome.
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RE: Day/Night changes
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by Cro on December 14, 2008
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Al, that is awesome news.
It makes sense that there would be a difference in day / night predators, and it makes sense that some snakes could have evolved colaration changes to take advantage of those differences !
Fantastic information.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Day/Night changes
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by theemojohnm on December 14, 2008
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Now that is pretty cool! The "pattern" even seems very different, especially on the head an tail regions.
A similar topic was brought up not to long ago if I'm not mistaken, regarding US Crotalus species, and I believe I added my comments about Nerodia. I notice SEASONAL changes in C. horridus popultaiuons in PA every year (even my captives, but much more dramatically particular individuals I have been "following" for a few years now, and can be sure of their identity ).
This would be a great topic to bring up, although perhaps not on the main site here, as I never seem to get as in depth a dicussion as I would like here, on the main site.
Although seasonal color (and even pattern) variations are not that uncommon in some species (at least PA natives, in my opinion), a dramatic color change such as this occuring, OVER NIGHT is mindblowing!
I never realized such a dramatic change occured with these guys! Al, if you have the time (pushing it I know LOL), to get pictures even, every other hour, or "in between" photos of the change, I would be very interested to see just how gradual the change is, and just how fast it occurs!
Thank you for posting! This has been my "cool read" for the week. (I try to come up with something exceptional that I look into more in depth than the other topics I come across as my "cool read"; one that really stands out). VERY COOL!
Take Care,
~John Mendrola.
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RE: Day/Night changes
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by FSB on December 15, 2008
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Such darkening is caused by a hormone called MSH (Melanophore Stimulating Hormone) that is released by the intermediate lobe of the pituitary gland, the pars intermedia. This lobe is greatly reduced in humans but still well-developed in fishes, amphibians and reptiles. MSH controls the amount of melanin in the melanophores (dark pigment cells) of the outer skin, causing them to lighten or darken accordingly.
Very beautiful snake Al... C. d. pifanorum is probably my favorite of the entire C. durissus complex.
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