Southern India Summer 2008

[Street Killer]

Hey everyone, haven't posted here in a while. Just figured I'd share my recent trip to India. (I recycled this thread from another forum i'm on.)

After traveling to Guyana this spring with Peter Pritchard, Valencia Community College's International Travel program brought me this time, to the wilds of Southern India. Here are some pictures with brief narrative. I'm not near my field notebook, so I apologize for all the common names.

After 26 hours of travel, we arrived on the other side of the planet at Rom Whitaker's Madras Crocodile Bank on India's southeast coast. The croc bank is essentially a breeding facility and it's kind of like the "Gatorland" of India.





I believe they have 13 of the world's 23 crocodilian species.


There are several thousand Mugger Crocodiles in the collection.










I think the breeding program was a success.

Calotes versicolor was encountered frequently at the croc bank.


Among the snake collection was a breeding pair of Python molurus molurus, the Indian Rock Python.


Throughout our stay, a wild Bonnet Macaque wreaked havoc on the resident birds. He would steal baby birds from their nests and throw them to their deaths, carry bird parts around like a teddy bear, and sometimes leave them inside our dwellings. I caught some of the chaos on video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc-kAek6WIw



and of course the famed Gharial Crocodile.


We went out snake collecting with some Irula tribal snake hunters. It is their job to go out and collect Russell's Vipers, Saw-scaled Vipers, Indian Cobras and Indian Kraits. These are considered India's "Big 4" snakes responsible for the most deaths, and consequently the snakes of biggest medicinal importance. A polyvalent antivenom serum is produced from these venoms, and administered to almost every venomous snake bite patient. Most people are unable to identify the snake that bit them, so this all-in-one serum is thier best chance at surviving.



Our first find was a beautiful Indian Rat Snake pulled out of some thick brush and hissing loudly. We went on to find two more of these.




Bronzeback tree snake.


Striped Keelback.


Common Vine Snake Ahaetulla nasuta


and finally a Saw-scaled Viper demonstrating his cryptic coloration.


Echis carinatus


I kind of like to brag about the fact that Rom invited us over to have some beers and swim in his pool.


This looks like a shot taken by some papparazzi who follow National Geographic stars. haha


The next day we observed a venom extration on Russell's Vipers.




Later we traveled across the country on a 16 hour train ride, and then a 3 hour bus ride to Agumbe Rainforest Reseach Station in the Western Ghats mountain range. Agube is a conservation area where biodiversity is studied, but it is first and foremost a King Cobra sanctuary. This rainforest is the second rainiest place on earth, and our visit fell right in the middle of monsoon season. I think we had 12 feet of rain in the four days we were there.







A radio telemetry project with an 11 foot male King Cobra was underway when we got there. The snake's every move was being tracked and they had recently got some pics and video of some really fantastic stuff- male combat, copulation, ophiophagy, females building nests, and eggs hatching!



We located the King Cobra but were unable to get a visual. This was VERY aggravating and honestly a huge let down.

On our outing we found another Ahaetulla nasuta


a Bicolor frog Rana curtipes


an Indian bull frog Hoplobatrachus tigrinus


and leeches!


We came across this DOR Civet cat, and joked about how the American museums would kill for a specimen like this.


Rom and Gowri Shankar brought us to a nearby King Cobra nest that had been incubating for 104 days. Gowri has been working with Rom and King Cobras in India for many years.


They opened up the nest cavity to expose some eggs. We could see movement from the neonates inside, and I swear they were about to hatch.




In India, snakes tend to thrive around human habitation. Where there are humans there are rats, and where there are rats, there are snakes. This particular nest was very close to a house, and the residents actually take part in the studies. They check the nest regularly, monitoring parameters like temp and humidity, and recieve pay for doing so.

[Street Killer]

That night Rom and Gowri sexed some neonates and like everything in Southern India, it was a low budget operation. They probed the snakes with paper clips! This is surprising, but hey, they're the experts.






Our stay at Agumbe concluded the next morning with some photography of a few captive specimens they had on hand.

Beddome's Keelback


Russell's Kukri snake


Travancore Wolf Snake


and lastly, Ophiophagus hannah




Another unforgettable trip!

Questions? Comments?

[icygirl]

Wow, that is one amazing trip!! I loved seeing all the crocs, and the gharials are my favorites. Question - how can they possibly care for THOUSANDS of crocs? Seems like a huge undertaking.

What safety precautions do you and you team take when dealing with king cobras?

Also, the vine snakes are gorgeous! I have seen them now and again in the pet trade here, but it must be ten times better to find them in the wild.

Congratulations on a wonderful trip.

[BrucenBruce]

Those are _very_ cool photos! I especially enjoyed the one of the muggers march, as they moved en masse through the forest - on their way to feed?

Who's the guy cuddling the baby king?

~Bruce

[Street Killer]

Wow, that is one amazing trip!! I loved seeing all the crocs, and the gharials are my favorites. Question - how can they possibly care for THOUSANDS of crocs? Seems like a huge undertaking.

What safety precautions do you and you team take when dealing with king cobras?

Also, the vine snakes are gorgeous! I have seen them now and again in the pet trade here, but it must be ten times better to find them in the wild.

Congratulations on a wonderful trip.

thanks, i enjoyed it, and glad you enjoyed the post.

you're right, they are a lot to care for and it's an endless job. amazingly, they're virtually all in perfect health and each one has a unique clipped scale code for identification.

precautions with king cobras? well we just let the experts do the handling, and we simply watch and learn.

[Street Killer]

Those are _very_ cool photos! I especially enjoyed the one of the muggers march, as they moved en masse through the forest - on their way to feed?

Who's the guy cuddling the baby king?

~Bruce

thanks for the compliment. yes, the muggers were stampeding because it was feeding time.

the kings were handled only by two people- Rom Whitaker and Gowri Shankar. Gowri is the darker of the two.

[python.princess]

Wow! Looks like you had the trip of a lifetime! I love the vine snakes and the indian rat snake. And the cute lil baby cobra at the end!

[Beardedragon]

* Puts on bucket list!*

WOW... I cant wait to do that myself somehow!

That Ophiophagus hannah is adorable

[Royal Tartan]

wow , looks like an ace trip , thanks for sharing with us

[dsirkle]

You are fortunate to have been able to make this trip.