Amazing what that process of convergent evolution can bring about eh? To me, this is one of the most fascinating areas of biology. Give two critters a few million years in almost the exact same environmental conditions, and wala! You now have near carbon copies of them even if they are in completely different families of snakes in different parts of the world. My personal favorite example of this is the gtp-etb set, wherein they not only look extremely similar as adults, but the babies go through the same ontogenic color change as they age. Again, two different groups of snakes, two different parts of the world, but close enough in habits and habitats that they've (so far) evolved to be almost identical. There are countless other examples: corals and their 'mimicks,' Xenodon and Bothrops, fwcs and true water cobras - though I'm not sure how strongly those two correlate, Thrasops and Dispholidus, etc etc etc. Neat stuff.
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

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