Wednesday 15 May
Guest Blog: Join Our SOS! Campaign to Help Polar Bears with Polar Bears International
Arabian cat snake (Telescopus dhara)
Arabian cat snake fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Arabian cat snake description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Reptilia |
| Order | Squamata |
| Family | Colubridae |
| Genus | Telescopus (1) |
A highly distinctive species, the Arabian cat snake possesses a large head relative to its body, with striking reddish brown or greenish-grey eyes, with vertical pupils giving it a viper-like appearance (2) (3). The body is reddish-grey or reddish-brown, with individuals exhibiting variable degrees of pale, banded markings. A set of venomous fangs are located towards the rear of the upper jaw (2).
- Size
- Length: up to 113 cm (2)
More »
Top
Related species
Arabian cat snake biology
A nocturnal species, the Arabian cat snake is an active and agile hunter, capable of climbing trees and rock faces to find prey such as fledglings, lizards, rodents and bats (3). During hunting, this species relies on stealth to sneak up on prey before striking and delivering its venom, and it is also known to enter small cracks in rock faces to take sleeping diurnal lizard species. Despite being a venomous, the Arabian cat snake is not aggressive, and unlikely to present a danger to humans (2).
TopArabian cat snake range
The Arabian cat snake is widespread within the Arabian Peninsula (2) and North Africa, occurring as far south as Kenya and Tanzania (4).
More »
Top
Species with a similar range
Arabian cat snake habitat
The Arabian cat snake occupies hills and mountains in arid and semi-arid regions, but appears to be absent from open desert (3)
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Arabian cat snake status
This species has yet to be classified by the IUCN.
TopArabian cat snake threats
Although it is apparently rare in some locations, such as the United Arab Emirates (3), there are no known significant threats to the Arabian cat snake at present.
TopArabian cat snake conservation
The Arabian cat snake is known to occur in a number of protected areas within its range (5).
|
Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi is a principal sponsor of ARKive. EAD is working to protect and conserve the environment as well as promoting sustainable development in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. |
|
View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. |
Find out more
To learn more about reptile conservation visit:
- International Reptile Conservation Foundation:
www.ircf.org
Authentication
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact: arkive@wildscreen.org.ukTopGlossary
- Diurnal
- Active during the day.
References
- IUCN Red List (February, 2009)
http://www.iucnredlist.org - Hellyer, P. and Aspinall, S. (2005) The Emirates: A Natural History. Trident Press Limited, United Arab Emirates.
- Vine, P. and Al-Abed, I. (1997) Natural Emirates: Wildlife and Environment of the United Arab Emirates. Trident Press Ltd, London.
- J. Craig Venter Institute (August, 2009)
http://www.jcvi.org/reptiles/species.php?genus=Telescopus&species=dhara - Baker, M.A., Qarqaz, M., Rifai, L., Hamidan, N., Omari, K.A., Modry, D. and Amr, Z. (2004) Results of herpetofaunal inventory of Wadi Ramm Protected Area, with notes on some relict species. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 11: 1 - 5.
More »Related species
This species is featured in:
This species is featured in Jewels of the UAE, which showcases biodiversity found in the United Arab Emirates in association with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi.
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
Monday 13 May
Sunday 12 May
X
Close
Close
Image credit
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.