used traditionally on the . Though Okinawa is famous for the venomous habu viper, the habu is in fact too small for its skin to be used to make , and it is believed that the snakeskin for the has always been imported from Southeast Asia. Though the pythons used to make skins today are not an endangered species, the difficulty of distinguishing faux snakeskin from real snakeskin makes transporting real-snakeskin () internationally somewhat risky. Due to international wildlife protection treaties, it is not legal to export snakeskin-covered to some countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States. There is some room for interpretation of this, in that the treaties specify that the restriction is for endangered snake species. Naturally-skinned instruments - while considered unparalleled in sound quality, producing a warm, deep yet pronounced tone - are infamous for cracking and tearing, especially when the is taken out of its natural habitat, the humid tropicality of the Ryukyu Islands. Up until recent times, skin breakage was never considered much of a problem, as the 's construction allows for it to be fully disassembled, re-skinned, and reassembled, usually with little time, cost, and inconvenience, as a number of craftsmen were heavily dotted throughout the Prefecture. When began to be exported across the world, skin breakages became a more prevalent issue, as no craftsmen existed outside of Okinawa, with Western luthiers unfamiliar with the construction of the instrument, or its use of natural skins. exported to cold and/or dry countries have an increased vulnerability to skin cracks, tears and breaks, leading to the development of artificial skins made from a variety of materials, such as nylon and polyester. The quality, appearance, and price of these skins varies greatly, ranging from hard, thin-skinned, high-pitched and 'tinny'-sounding polyester skins, to the more 'snake-skin-sounding' nylon skins, which replicate the layered composition of natural snake skin. Artificially skinned are popular due to their generally low cost and their invulnerability to different temperatures and atmospheres. The highest-quality synthetic-skin , which are available for as low as US$300, are the go-to choice for professional Okinawan Folk Musicians who travel and play overseas. These days, with the 's popularity rapidly expanding all over the world, and the desire of players to have the most traditional possible, a hybrid skin known as the style has been developed: a natural python skin is fitted to the and stretched with