Snakes are Mysterious, more often than not misunderstood, but one of the most fascinating species that plays a vital role for our ecosystem to thrive and flourish.
Here we are going to look out the interesting factors about snakes in India.
1 - In the world of snakes, female King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the only snake that builds nest. They do it only when they are close to laying eggs.
2 - Just like other animals, snakes shed their skin too (moulting). The process of moulting in snakes has evolved differently than other species, like mammals and birds. (Yes! we humans moult too, but in a different form. We get rid of our dead skin cells regularly and hence, we don’t realise or notice it).
3 - There are three distinct ways in which snakes give birth, namely: Oviparity, viviparity and ovoviviparity. This diversification helps us to classify the animals as well and also show the lineage of the evolution.
Oviparous: It is a common way of reproduction in the snakes. Oviparous means the group of animals who lay eggs. King Cobra, Cobra, Rat Snake, Indian Rock Python, etc. are some examples of the oviparous snakes.
Viviparous: Viviparous means the group of animals who give birth to young ones. Some snakes have evolved to viviparity. In viviparous snakes, female does not develop enclosed eggs, but gives birth to live young. The best known examples are boa constrictors and green anaconda.
Ovoviviparous: This is the third type of reproduction seen in the snakes. Ovoviviparity means the eggs are developed internally in the body of female snake and then she gives the birth to young ones. As per new research published by Romulus Whitaker & Ashok Captain (2008), around 25% of Indian snakes are ovoviviparous. Sand boas, sea snakes, vine snakes, vipers etc. are some of the examples ovoviviparous snakes from India.
4 - We know very few little about snakes, and a lot still remains to be discovered about their behaviour.
5 - Binocular vision means where images received from both the eyes are overlapped and give one combined focused image. Some snakes have binocular vision. Vine snakes, found in India and South East Asia, are unique snakes with binocular vision. They belong to genus Ahaetull. In India, we have more than 6 species of vine snake and the newest one was discovered in 2019 after a gap of 113 years particularly. The binocular vision gives them better vision to judge the distance and depth. This is one of the adaptations helpful for the arboreal lifestyle.
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