Snakes or Human's- Who Intrudes? by Kavin

Snakes or Humans – Who Intrudes?

1.  My first encounter with a Snake

I was happily reading my favourite book when I heard my brother scream from the garden. I rushed to the garden. There was a snake. “Did it bite you?” I asked. “No” he replied. He was pretty scared, I was scared too. I rushed my brother out of the garden. Then we immediately called our parents. My dad came down not knowing what had happened. I told him about the snake. He saw it and identified it as a cobra. Suddenly it moved into a small gap between a washing machine and a wall. It was no longer than my fore arm. My dad then called the security. They tried to capture it. The snake was scared of us, we were equally scared while trying to capture it. It kept going behind the washing machine. After half an hour of tussle, we finally caught it in a bucket. There were many more incidents about snakes in my apartment. Why are snakes coming into people’s houses? Perhaps we have encroached into their habitats! Let us explore more about these reptiles and how we can co-exist with them peacefully.

2.  Interesting reptiles

Snakes are said to have evolved from lizards. I wonder why the lizards lost their legs to become snakes. May be the ground snakes evolved from water snakes which evolved from water dinosaurs.  Our palaeontologists still do not have an answer. There are over 3000 species of snakes.

 They come in sizes 10 cm to 7m. They have very elongated body. Snakes are the only reptiles with no external ears, but internal ears. They smell with their tongue. Some rattle snakes can see heat, which is how they hunt at night.

Most of the snake’s organs are elongated, they even miss a few organs, like their diaphragm. The lack of diaphragm makes them slither, to expand and contract their lungs. Their heart is kept in a protective sac in order to prevent damage when swallowing a huge prey. They have main bones like ribs, skull and vertebral column.

Figure 1 - Anatomy of a Snake

Many snakes have colour matching their habitat, which helps them hunt. Snakes kill either with venom or by constriction. Snakes have their defences too from their predators. There are constrictors that mimic venomous snakes. Some have bright colours to warn predators that they are venomous. And the rattlesnake has a rattle on his tail to warn predators.

3.  Habitat of Snakes

Snakes live all over the world except Antarctica. They don’t live in Antarctica because it is too cold and snakes are cold blooded. Snakes live in lots of different habitats like deserts, Rainforests Rivers and oceans.

Snakes that live deserts are usually venomous because their prey typically lives in burrows which are not suitable for constriction. There are many predators in the desert, a constrictor will have to hide and snakes are not the best hiders. A venomous snake can just bite the predators to defend itself. They are usually brown. The rattle snake is the most famous desert snake.

Sea snakes are the most venomous snakes in the world. One drop of the Bleaked sea snake’s venom can kill 3 adult men. They can live in fresh water and salt water. Most of them live in coral reefs like the coral snake. They go up to breathe air. The have one lung which as long as their body. They have no scutes, (under belly scales in land snakes that gives them grip on the surface) so they can’t slither on land. Instead they have flattered out tail which helps them swim.

Rain forest snakes are long and big like the anaconda. They are also mostly constrictors because prey is usually big and venom does not affect big prey so much, but constriction does. They also live on trees. The only venomous snake that lives in rain forests is the well-known king cobra. It can hunt big prey because of its very deadly venom.

Dessert Snake	Rain Forest Snake	Sea Snake

 Today snakes are becoming endangered because of habitat loss and loss of food. Human activities such as farming deforestation trigger habitat loss. So snakes end up encroaching human habitats.

4.  Snakes in India

Snakes are considered gods in some places in India. Cobra is considered the god of snakes. People do Pooja and offer milk to cobra and build small temples for them. They are part of Indian mythology.

King Cobra	Snake Temple

Six common venomous snakes in India are Spectacled Cobra, Indian Krait, Russell’s viper, Saw-Scaled Viper, The King Cobra, and Indian Pit Vipers. Six common non venomous snakes in India are Indian Rat Snake, Checkered Keelback, Indian Rock Python, Common Sand Boa, Common Trinket Snake, common cat snake.

There are 25 species of snakes that can be found in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. Among the snakes the saw scaled viper, the large rat snake, black cobra and sand boa are the most famous and dangerous snakes of the Thar Desert. The desert snakes hide very easily in sand to protect and to hunt the lizards and insects.

The most dangerous animals that inhabit India's rainforests are snakes. There are almost 400 species, and of those 1/5 of them are poisonous. The most common poisonous snakes are kraits and cobras. India's king cobra can grow to 12 feet long. The in rain forest prey are usually huge and constriction is more effective. The venomous snakes feed on small animals like rats, lizards, Etc. 

Figure 2 - Snake Byte Deaths

There are many snakes found in Indian cities and villages. Every year 46000 people die of snake bite in India, which is half of all the world’s snake bites. These deaths are avoidable. They happen due to careless and inattentive behaviour.   Anti-venom, administered at the right time, is sufficient to negate the effects of the bite. Polyvalent anti-venoms can neutralise the effects of venom from multiple species of snakes.

Let us explore how we can avoid so many snake bite deaths in India.

5.  Management of snake bites

The best thing we can do is to avoid getting bitten by snake.  Wear hiking boots when you go hiking.  Snakes do not want to meet us as much as we don’t want to meet them. So make noise before going into bushes where there could be a snake. The snake will move away.

There are few tips to identify venomous snakes.

1.     Most venomous snakes have a triangle shaped head.

2.     Most venomous snakes have bright colours to warn predators.

3.     Most of them have vertical eye lids instead of round pupil

4.     If the snake has a hood, it is venomous

5.     Check if it has a rattle on its tail. Rattle snakes are venomous

6.     It case it has bitten someone, examine the bite make. Two close-set puncture indicates that the snake had fangs and it would be venomous.

If you're bitten by a non-venomous snake this doesn't mean you're 100% okay, because non-venomous snakes carry diseases and can infect you after you have been bitten.

If you are bitten by a snake, you need to get medical attention at the earliest. While waiting for the doctors, there are a few things that you must follow.

1.     Clean the wound with a wet cloth.

2.     Restrict movement of the bitten part and keep it below the heart level.

3.     Keep calm, to keep your heart beat low, so that the venom does not spread.

4.     Drink lots of fluids.

5.     Once you get to the doctor, take the appropriate anti-venom injections and follow the doctor’s advice.

6.  Conclusion

Snakes are the only animals who kill more of us than we kill them. Does that mean that we kill them as soon as we see them in our habitat? No! After all we are the ones who intrude! Let us return them to their habitat.