NEWS103
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Thereareavastmultitudeof cultivated formsof theRoyal Python.1,0 signifiesmale,0,1 female.
so the requirement tonotifyhasbeen lifted
in the caseof theRoyal Python.But please:
always make sure you keep the sales
paperwork when you buy one or more
Royal Pythons, so that if necessary you can
prove that the creatures entered the trade
inaccordancewithanimal-protection law.
Newcultivated forms
These legal provisions also apply to the
cultivated forms of the Royal Python
discussed here, although they don’t occur
at all in thewildandhenceare completely
irrelevant in the sense of species
protection.
RoyalPythons fromAmerica
All the specimens presented in this article
are captive-bred individuals from theUSA,
where they have been working on
cultivated color forms of reptiles and
amphibians for a long time. And if we
consider themultitudeof color sports that
existalready,ithastobesaidtheyaredoing
so successfully! Even so, we should never
forget that the Royal Python is an egg-
laying snake and only a few dozen young
per femalecanbeproducedeachyear.
Mutations
A mutation, that is, a sudden change in
genetic make-up expressed as external
changes in color, occurs only extremely
rarely. It is very difficult to quantify that
statement, as in the wild color mutants
havevery littlechanceofsurvival,asaround
90% of the offspring of an animal die
before reaching sexual maturity and
specimens with aberrant color are not as
optimally adapted to their habitat as
normal-colored individuals. Hence color
mutants are almost never encountered in
thewild.Ifmutantssurviveatall in thewild,
thentheyareusually formsexhibitinga loss
of color, that is, individuals that lack certain
color pigments in their skinas the result of
genetic peculiarities. The best-known
mutation is albinism, which can occur in
almost all animals (including humans).
Albinos lack theblackpigmentmelanin,as
a result of which the blood in the retina
shows through and the eyes look red.
Albinism can be variably expressed –
