An international team of scientists identified the snake and its range, which includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, and Russia including a small region extending into the corner of Europe. Based on the genetic and morphological data, the researchers were able to say that the Blotched Rat Snake (Elaphe …
Ahmedabad: The cramped snake house at Kamla Nehru Zoo in Kankaria is set to get a new makeover. Soon, visitors will be able to view the unique collection of native and exotic snakes in their natural surroundings. For that, one has to first enter the giant belly of pre-historic dinosaur-shaped …
70 persons suffer snakebites in four months in Narayangaon area Ten-year-old Hrishikesh Wable from Junnar taluka in Pune district did not realise he was bitten by a snake till he was gasping for breath and could not walk. Villagers who wasted precious time thinking it was a "scorpion" bite instead …
There are so many misconceptions about snakes that any of the snake species spotted in residential areas cannot escape without harm from man. For many people immensely fear snakes. But, at least, in Goa, people seem to be shaking off their preconceived notions. They call snake rescuers rather than kill …
The Principal Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden has permitted noted herpetologist Romulus Whitaker and his team to carry out telemetric tracking studies on rat snakes and king cobras. They have also been allowed documentation through photography or videography up to February 28, 2009, in the protected areas …
Snakes can't hear as they don't have an ear, it is often believed. But, a new study has found that the reptiles do possess an "inner' ear with a functional cochlea which they use to detect vibrations caused by prey. A team of international researchers has carried out the study …
Most people react to snakes with fear. Yet, very few snakes are lethal or even poisonous. India, in fact, has only five known varieties of deadly snakes: cobra, krait, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper, and the recently discovered hump-nosed pit viper. A small brown snake with markings in lighter/darker brown, …
researchers from Kolkata-based Indian Institute of Chemical Biology and University of Calcutta have found that the seed extract of Strychnos nux vomica (snv)
Siriyanangai (Andrographis paniculata) is very bitter. Alagamma hid that well, when she gave a leaf to this correspondent to chew. The bile rose, and the bitterness lingered for an hour. "It shows you have not been bitten by a snake in the last one hour,' remarked Alagamma. A person bitten …
Middle-aged Bedunath wears saffron-coloured clothes and sets out daily with two snake baskets slung over his shoulders. He spends the entire day walking the streets of Delhi blowing on his flute, mesmerising snakes and passersby alike. Bedunath resides in a unique colony in Delhi called Mollarbandhgaon. This community, located next …
eggs will soon offer an inexpensive antidote for snake bites, if scientists in Bangalore have their way. Biochemists at the Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation (VMSRF) have developed the antidote using chicks. The process starts with immunising chicks when they are four weeks old. A small amount of venom is …
the severe cold wave in northern India this year has not hit just humans hard, but also snakes. Bihar witnessed 24 snake deaths in January. These were reported from the Bikram sub-division of Patna and from 26 villages of adjoining Vaishali district. Out of the 24 snake deaths reported, 10 …
Experts follow the world's longest venomous snake, with a bite potent enough to kill an elephant, through the rain forests of peninsular India. The programme explores the relationship between the charismatic cobra and creatures such as the forest tortoise, vine snakes, cow elephants, and giant squirrels. The secrets of the …
A sum of us $42,000 was raised in Singapore during an auction of 25,000 pieces of illegally imported snake skin. The skin pieces belong to the endangered banded rat snake. Custom officials found the skins, which were illegally imported, in a warehouse. The company that imported the skins was later …
The venom of the Malaya pitviper Calloselasma rhodostoma , collected from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Java, shows considerable variations in its chemical composition. The pattern of variation is due to the changes in the diet of the snakes in these regions. Since the function of the venom is to immobilise …
people in the city of Townsville, on Australia's eastern coast, are facing tough times. First, the city was devastated by high winds and severe floods. One person was killed and several houses damaged by the floods. And now, snakes, spiders and scorpions have become the latest threats to flood-hit northern …
the rivalry between mongooses and snakes is legion. What has always puzzled researchers has been the mongoose's ability to counter deadly snake-venom. Now a team of scientists in Israel has discovered that it is not the quick reflexes of these mammals that saves them from the lethal bite of snakes …
THE anaconda - the world's largest snake - carries the notorious reputation in folklore of being a monstrous, man-eating reptile that exhumes poisonous gases. It is also known to hypnotise its human victims. The species (Eunectes murinus) is found throughout South America's Orinoco and Amazon river basins. Scientists are now …
SNAKEBITES could spell death to countless victims had there been no antidotes available. But these commonly available antivenins also have their share of side effects, including strong allergic reactions that could even prove fatal. Thus, a new generation of antidotes to snakebite becomes significant. It promises faster treatment, smaller doses …
It takes the right amount of venol from the snake to kill its p I go. Larger the prey, more the venom and vice versa. William Hayes of tho University of Wyoming, US, in a series of laboratory experiment-4 demonstrated that rattlesnakes indeed 'meter' the quantity of venom they inject …
