Snakes: India
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Contents |
Calliophis bibroni
Characteristics
Mimicry to fool predators
Aswathi Pacha, January 22, 2018: The Hindu
From: Aswathi Pacha, January 22, 2018: The Hindu
From: Aswathi Pacha, January 22, 2018: The Hindu
It’s not easy being a snake in the wild. With dozens of predators, death lurks in every nook. So they must resort to some weird tricks in order to survive. Now, a report in Herpetology Notes describes how an Indian coral snake resorts to mimicry to fool its predators. The tropical snake Calliophis bibroni is a venomous species endemic to the Western Ghats.
In its infant stage, the snake develops a bright red colouration with black stripes, similar to another venomous snake, Sinomicrurus macclellandi.
Other snakes, too, exhibit this type of mimicry, with two or more species sharing the same danger signals.
Once the predator has learnt that red and black snakes are venomous, it will never touch any other species with the same colour pattern.
But the bright red colour that served as a protective shield of sorts in infancy would be a liability once the snake grows into an adult, as it would scare away its prey as well. To address this, the snake turns fully black in colour as it grows up, merging well with the surroundings. This is the first time such dual mimicry has been reported from India.
Another common type of mimicry is Batesian Mimicry, wherein non-venomous snakes copy the patterns of venomous snakes to fool the predator.
“The wolf snake, a non-venomous snake, has white stripes on its body resembling the venomous krait,” explains Dileep Kumar of the Centre for Venom Informatics, University of Kerala, and the first author of the paper on the coral snake.
Snakes are capable of using other tactics to distract the predator. “Oligodon snakes or kukri snakes are non-venomous snakes of South Asia. They are capable of twisting their tail and displaying their bright ventral side to distract the predator and save their head. Display of bright colours, or aposematism, is seen in many other species, including frogs and lizards. Some lizards have bright, coloured tails to signal that they are poisonous,” says Dr. Abhijit Das, from the Wildlife Institute of India.
Hissing and opening the jaw to display the colour of the mouth are among the other tactics. “Snakes can also puff up their throat when agitated. Some snakes are known to display a different, bright colour skin under their scales when disturbed,” points out Ajay Kartik, assistant curator at the Madras Crocodile Bank.
Malabar vit piper
Prakash Kamat, August 5, 2017: The Hindu
The Malabar pit viper is encountered less frequently in the Western Ghats, worrying conservationists
The Malabar pit viper, one of India’s many snakes found only in the Western Ghats may be responding to erratic monsoons and spells of water scarcity with a reduction in size. It is also less frequently encountered in the forests.
The many facets of the snake were on show at an exhibition titled ‘The Malabar Pit Viper – a wonder of the Western Ghats’ organised by conservationists, herpetologists and artists in Goa.
“It is for the first time that 35 conservation photographers, researchers and herpetologists have come together to showcase the uniqueness of this species,” said herpetologist, conservationist and member of the Goa State Biodiversity Board, Nirmal Kulkarni.
A flagship species of the ghats, he said, the viper was chosen because there is a lot of colour around it drawing visitors, to whom “we can talk about this and other snakes.”
The viper’s life-cycle is linked to water. But in the entire Western Ghats landscape, monsoon patterns are becoming erratic, affecting habitats and in turn the species. “Because altered monsoons affect water availability, the immediate impact on Malabar pit vipers seems to be reduction in size.”
“To prove a hypothesis like this we will need a bigger sample size and research done over, say, 15 years. But by raising concerns over size and diminishing numbers, we are raising a red flag,” said Mr. Kulkarni.
Population size in reptiles cannot be estimated easily. But frequency of sighting of species like the Malabar pit viper have definitely reduced. The likely reasons are irreversible habitat change, loss of freshwater ecosystems due to erratic rainfall and rise in monsoon temperatures, Mr. Kulkarni said.
Moreover, these snakes are live-bearers. Therefore, with large scale deforestation and death of females the impact on their reproduction would be big.
The Malabar pit viper is a single species with varied colour morphs (appearance). Research observations say this could be due to habitat adaptation. Wet evergreen forests have darker shades and dry deciduous, light ones. Proximity to water, age and prey base also have a role to play.
As of now no sub-species have been classified but future DNA systematics could split up the species by various ghat ranges.
Villagers know it as a venomous species and though deaths have not been reported, people call it “Chabde” (the one that bites). Those who suffer a bite take herbal medicine and sleep for long.
“This is our eighth year and we have been able to collect about 300 individuals. Once you have a large sample size, the study can have scientific strength,” Mr. Kulkarni said.
The pit viper initiative has four research stations and each has about 3 or 4 scientists. Wider access to photography has brought in citizens and volunteers too, who provide pictures and data.
Volunteers pay to help
“Half of surveyors are researchers and the other half people who pay to participate. We do the expeditions with that money,” he said. Except for technical support from the Viper Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), of which he is a member, the initiative gets no external help. IUCN’s Red List puts the snake under ‘least concern’ as of 2013. The Goa-Karnataka tussle over Mahadayi water diversion may affect reptiles and amphibians, he said.
Snakebites
2019: India is world's 'snakebite capital'
Mohua Das, November 15, 2019: The Times of India
From: Mohua Das, November 15, 2019: The Times of India
Monsoons are the time when snakes come out — to play, hunt and mate. Their dens flooded, they seek refuge in dry patches where often the reticent reptiles cross path with humans, resulting in a season of fatal snake bites every year.
Sunil Limaye’s phone doesn’t stop ringing in these months. The additional principal chief conservator of forests in Maharashtra gets an average of two snakebite complaints daily June to September. “We’ve received more than 70 calls this year,” said Limaye last week.
A snakebite victim being treated in the village. More dangerous than the venom is the belief in occult practice and faith healers, doctors say
Unknown to many, India is likely the world’s snakebite capital. In 2017, the Union health ministry collated countrywide data between April and October. The survey recorded 1.14 lakh cases across the country in the six-month period before and after the monsoon. Maharashtra led the pack of states with 24,437 cases, followed by West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka.
Herpetologists, doctors and science-ecology experts have long held that official numbers in India are grossly underestimated. The World Health Organisation (WHO) listed snake bites under ‘neglected tropical diseases’ in 2017. Its datasheet said under-reporting of snakebite incidence and mortality was common. “A very large community-level study in India gave a direct estimate of 45,900 deaths in 2005… over 30 times higher than the official figure”.
It was referring to the national mortality survey of 1.1 million homes as part of Centre for Global Health Research’s Million Death Study in 2011, which put the annual death from snake bite at 45,900 in 2005. There are no accurate records to determine exact mortality. National Crime Records Bureau noted just 8,554 deaths from snake bite in 2015.
In a unique initiative, a 257-member WhatsApp group called ‘Snakebite Interest Group’ is striving to attend to cases across the country. Created in 2015 by Dr Dayalbandhu Mazumdar, a Bengal-based ophthalmologist and an expert in snakebite management, and administered by Priyanka Kadam, a Mumbai-based crusader against snake bites, the community of 240 doctors spans 14 states and Nepal. It works alongside activists and herpetologists and says it has saved more than 3,500 victims in the past four years.
In a country where snake bite features fleetingly under forensic chapters of the MBBS syllabus, the group handholds junior doctors at the block level to identify and manage snake bites at the first point of contact instead of referring patients to district hospitals, which often leads to time lapse and death. “Only when snake bite is made a notifiable disease, will it be considered for mainstream treatment, taught in medical schools,” says Kadam, who was part of a panel of experts from 16 countries that helped WHO author a global strategy launched in Geneva this May to prevent and control snakebite envenoming.
Kadam founded the Snakebite Healing & Education Society that is documenting stories of victims and engaging experts from different fields including veteran herpetologist Romulus Whitaker. Not just in the countryside, snakes thrive in urban spaces too — homes, toilets, gardens and rodent-infested gutters.
The death of 10-year-old Manan Vora from Gujarat’s Bhavnagar — while holidaying with his family at a luxury resort in Diu when a cobra hiding in his pillowcase bit him — showed how ill-equipped urban centres are in dealing with snakebites. Although Manan was rushed to a hospital, he was put on antibiotics instead of anti-venom and advised transfer to a hospital 17km away.
More harmful than the venom is belief in occult practice and healers. Devendri in Bulandshahar, UP, was collecting firewood when a cobra bit her. Her husband chose a faith healer. She was buried in dung for 75 minutes. She didn’t survive. For another it was burial in salt, and for some it’s stones and leaves, roots and twigs.
Dr Dilip Punde who has treated around 7,000 snakebite cases in Nanded (Maharashtra) over three decades says he urges traditional healers to redirect snakebite victims to a health centre. It takes 100ml of anti-venom within 100 minutes of a bite to save a life. But even when available, it can be prohibitively expensive, pushing poor victims further into poverty and debt. A vial of anti-snake venom costs Rs 250 to Rs 500, and a loading dose for a venomous bite requires at least 10 vials. Snakebite treatment is free in statehospitals but when there are none close by, the victim’s family is forced to go to a private or missionary hospital which charge for treatment,” says Kadam.
The WHO roadmap is expected to defray such costs but Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at WHO, points at an important weapon against the threat — “digital engagement” and “mobile phone tech”, primary driver of human behaviour today.
WHY INDIA LEADS IN SNAKEBITE DEATHS
Poor health facilities in rural areas
Delayed treatment because victims in rural areas unable to reach health facility in time
Healthcare personnel have inadequate knowledge of snakebite treatment
People seek traditional healers instead of visiting healthcare facility
Unavailability of effective anti-venom, poor distribution in rural areas
Problems in cold storage and transportation affect quality of anti-venom
Anti-venom is expensive
