The Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) is a snake native to coastal Australia, Papua New Guinea, and a large number of islands in northwestern Melanesia.

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The brown tree snake was a stowaway on US military transport at the end of World War II. The slightly venomous, but rather harmless, snake came north to Guam and killed almost the entire native bird population on the previously snake-free island. This snake has no natural predators on the island; nowadays, Guam is one of the areas with the highest snake density in the world (an estimated 2,000 snakes/km²). Even so, this nocturnal tree snake is rarely seen by residents. They curl up and hide during the day, and move about on trees and fences at night.

External links

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System Boiga irregularis
• The Brown Tree Snake "The brown tree snake is a member of the Family Colubridae, a diverse assemblage of primarily harmless snakes, and is native to coastal Australia, Papua New Guinea, and a large number of islands in northwestern Melanesia. The species occurs on both large and small islands, extending from Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia through Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and into the wettest coastal areas of Northern Australia."