16-year-old student captures clear photo of critically endangered snake in S’pore’s nature reserve

Student spots rare snake, a mock viper, in Singapore forest

A young wildlife enthusiast has captured a high-definition photograph of a critically endangered snake in a forest in Singapore.

16-year-old student Jamie Allott shared his encounter with the painted mock viper on the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook page.

“With practically no proper photos of this snake locally (this being one of the very few coloured photographs taken of a live specimen locally), this encounter will forever live inside my mind,” the caption read.

Viper deemed critically endangered

Speaking to MS News, Jamie shared that he spotted the painted mock viper on an early July night this year in Singapore’s Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

He had visited the forest with a group of friends when he stumbled across the rare snake.

“I was unsure of what lay before me — a snake rarely seen outside its inaccessible forest habitat in decades,” he said. 

Jamie and his friends were “overcome with ecstasy and sheer amazement” as he began to snap pictures of the viper.

According to the Singapore Red Data Book, the painted mock viper, also known as the Psammodynastes pictus, is classified as a critically endangered reptile in Singapore.

To be labelled as “critically endangered”, the species is deemed to have fewer than 50 mature individuals.

It can also be classified as critically endangered if it has more than 50 mature individuals but less than 250, with some evidence of decline or fragmentation.

Photograph one of few taken in Singapore

According to Jamie, his snaps of the critically endangered viper are one of the few coloured photographs of a live specimen taken in Singapore.

Jamie, who had been photographing the wildlife scene for three years, told MS News that the painted mock viper sighting stood out the most to him out of all the rare animals he had encountered in the past.

“This sighting not only enhanced our understanding of the species’ behaviour, which is poorly documented, but also added valuable data to Singapore’s biodiversity records and research,” he shared. 

Several nature lovers on Facebook also took the opportunity to commend and congratulate Jamie on his rare find.

Also read: Highly Venomous Snake Spotted At Pulau Ubin, Reptile Stays Calm As Photographers Take Pictures

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Featured image courtesy of Jamie Allot.