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The archipelago is located 118 km southwest of the province of Papua, West New Guinea, and 119 km east of Kei Besar (locally Nuhu Yuut), in the Kei Islands. It is made up of 95 islands, the largest of which are Tanahbesar, Kobroor and Trangan. It stretches over 196 kilometers in length from north to south and 87 kilometers in width from east to west.
Aru Green Pythons hatch a brilliant yellow color with a larger pattern of purply brown bordered thin white splotches alternating along the spine and smaller spots and dots along the rest of the body with a dark tipped tail. The Yellow body color typically begins to turn green starting around 8-12 months of age and is mostly complete by the age of 18 months.
The juvenile pattern elements turn blue and in some areas small clusters of white scales form predominantly along either side of the spine. Adult Aru Green Pythons are typically a very pleasing shade of green with a smattering of blue elements along the spine with white speckles with the tail typically being a mixture of white, green, blue and black in no particular order.
The amount of white and intensity of the blue pattern vary widely among specimens. Most Aru animals have a large blue border along their sides that stands in contrast to the white belly and green body. In some individuals, there is also some yellow patches mixed in along with the blue sides. The snout length of the southern species is not as long and pronounced as the northern species and the tail is blunt without the sharp tip found in northern animals.
Credits text and photos : Ryan Young