Cobras: India
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Contents |
Habitat
2020: spotted at 2,400m
Prashant Jha, In a 1st, king cobra spotted at 2,400m, September 4, 2020: The Times of India
Nainital:
Forest officials in Uttarakhand have for the first time recorded sightings of king cobra at heights of 2,200 metres to 2,400 metres in the Himalayas, a new altitude record for the species which has led to several experts calling for a detailed study on how the world’s largest venomous snake was thriving at such elevations, reports Prashant Jha.
The observations, part of a report prepared by the state’s forest department’s research wing, a copy of which is with TOI, put the species’ habitat range as varying from 400m in Terai region to up to 2,400m in the hills. The report said such a wide variation in habitat for a cold-blooded was “unusual” and demands scientific investigation. Reptiles generally prefer warmer climates, it said. The snakes were spotted in Mukteshwar.
Kannur
July/Aug: hatching time
P Sudhakaran, Kerala: It’s king cobra hatching time in Kannur!, July 31, 2018: The Times of India
Two consecutive instances of successful hatching of king cobra – one at Parassinikkadavu Snake Park in Kerala's Kannur district on July 28, with four hatchlings, and the second in a private plantation near Kottiyoor where 23 king cobra eggs were hatched on July 29 – have come to light.
Though the hatchlings at Kottiyoor were released in the nearby forest, it will not cause any problem to the human habitat and care has been taken to release it in safe places, said divisional forest officer (DFO) Sunil Pamidi.
“The king cobras are released in the natural habitat only and they will not intrude into the human settlements. Moreover, where the king cobra nested is actually adjacent to the forest areas only,” he said.
The eggs were spotted almost three months back, on May 4, and ever since that the Rapid Response Team (RRT) under wildlife rescuer Riyaz Mangad and others had been closely monitoring it after covering the eggs in an enclosure to make sure the hatchlings did not escape.
Last year also, around twenty eggs were hatched in the same locality, in another private plot and the snakes were released in the surrounding forest areas.
“Last year, some people had made an effort to destroy the nest and eggs because of fear and hence this time when we spotted it we took extra care to make sure people did not destroy it and also gave confidence to the people and convinced them that the king cobras do not intrude into human habitats,” he said.
He also said we have to study the life of reptiles from close quarters and also make efforts to estimate their population. As part of this, the entire hatching process was documented by the RRT, said Riyaz.
Just because there were two instances of king cobra eggs hatching near the human habitat, it does not mean they are facing any habitat threat or coming closer to our habitat, said Sajikumar V, wildlife warden, Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary.
“These are actually the natural habitats of king cobras and there is nothing unusual in the eggs hatching there, because they lay eggs in such places where the humidity is 50 percent to facilitate natural hatching,” he said.
Though people are normally afraid of snakes, here, in both the cases of hatching in the last one year, the residents of the localities were highly cooperative and this is a positive trend, said R Roshnath of Malabar Awareness and Rescue Centre for Wildlife (MARC), an NGO focusing on rescuing wildlife in the urban area.
