A nocturnal tree snake of Pacific origin that has escaped captivity as a pet to threaten native fauna in many Pacific Rim locations.
Boiga irregularis, family Colubridae
Example sentencesExamples
Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, brown tree snakes in Guam, rabbits in Australia - all play havoc with natural ecosystems.
In the early 1980's, however, this species, along with seven other native forest birds, was extirpated from the wild due to predation by the invasive brown tree snake.
But that feistiness wasn't enough to save it from the brown tree snake, an alien intruder that probably arrived on a military plane or ship after World War II, then preyed on Guam birds.
The story, unfortunately, isn't B-grade fiction; the very real brown tree snake made its way from New Guinea to Guam, probably aboard a freighter, in the mid-1950s.
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have been using Jack Russell terriers on that Pacific Ocean island to detect invasive brown tree snakes in airport cargo.
Definition of brown tree snake in US English:
brown tree snake
noun
A nocturnal tree snake of Pacific origin that has escaped captivity as a pet to threaten native fauna in many Pacific Rim locations.
Boiga irregularis, family Colubridae
Example sentencesExamples
In the early 1980's, however, this species, along with seven other native forest birds, was extirpated from the wild due to predation by the invasive brown tree snake.
But that feistiness wasn't enough to save it from the brown tree snake, an alien intruder that probably arrived on a military plane or ship after World War II, then preyed on Guam birds.
Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, brown tree snakes in Guam, rabbits in Australia - all play havoc with natural ecosystems.
The story, unfortunately, isn't B-grade fiction; the very real brown tree snake made its way from New Guinea to Guam, probably aboard a freighter, in the mid-1950s.
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have been using Jack Russell terriers on that Pacific Ocean island to detect invasive brown tree snakes in airport cargo.