Kingdom of the cobra
By: Whitaker, Romulus
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: Seminar: Cradle of Diversity Description: 735, Nov, 2020: p.43-47.
In:
Seminar: Cradle of DiversitySummary: JUST inland from the west coast of southern India a spine of ancient hills rises 2000 metres above the scorched plains. Hidden valleys of very wet, dark, primeval rainforest still harbour wonders that no biologist has seen or described. One of the top predators that rule these valleys is a giant reptile: the king cobra.
I was fortunate to grow up in these Western Ghats, having done my schooling in the Palni Hills between 1952 and 1960, and thereafter I spent my life pursuing my passion for reptiles. After a failed attempt at college in the USA, a stint in the US Army and the honour of working for the late William Haast at the Miami Serpentarium, I returned to India to set up the Madras Snake Park. But I always made sure I had plenty of time to wander the forests of the Western Ghats searching for and studying king cobras and the other delightful reptiles that live there.
In 1973 my short article in the WWF Newsletter ‘Save Silent Valley’ sounded the alarm for what became one of India’s first big environmental controversies. And we won, the dam was never built and Silent Valley was saved. But over the decades I’ve seen the forests and wildlife disappear, despite the best efforts of dedicated conservationists. Forests have been cut down at an alarming rate for infrastructure projects and to feed humanity’s insatiable appetite for wood, tea, coffee, and rubber. Wildlife is trapped, shot, snared and poisoned till some species are just not seen any more.
The king cobra is arguably the most intelligent of all snakes. It is the largest venomous snake in the world, growing to over five metres in length. While its venom is not as toxic as the spectacled cobra’s, it makes up for it in quantity. It can inject 6 ml of venom in a single bite compared to a mere 2 ml of the much smaller spectacled cobra. King cobras may live for 30 years or more. Their sense of sight and smell are extraordinary and they generally slip away into the forest before any human even sees them. Not much is known about king cobra numbers in the wild, but the more we destroy our rainforests, the less space there is for a mighty predator. - Reproduced
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | 735, Nov, 2020: p.43-47 | Available | AR124869 |
JUST inland from the west coast of southern India a spine of ancient hills rises 2000 metres above the scorched plains. Hidden valleys of very wet, dark, primeval rainforest still harbour wonders that no biologist has seen or described. One of the top predators that rule these valleys is a giant reptile: the king cobra.
I was fortunate to grow up in these Western Ghats, having done my schooling in the Palni Hills between 1952 and 1960, and thereafter I spent my life pursuing my passion for reptiles. After a failed attempt at college in the USA, a stint in the US Army and the honour of working for the late William Haast at the Miami Serpentarium, I returned to India to set up the Madras Snake Park. But I always made sure I had plenty of time to wander the forests of the Western Ghats searching for and studying king cobras and the other delightful reptiles that live there.
In 1973 my short article in the WWF Newsletter ‘Save Silent Valley’ sounded the alarm for what became one of India’s first big environmental controversies. And we won, the dam was never built and Silent Valley was saved. But over the decades I’ve seen the forests and wildlife disappear, despite the best efforts of dedicated conservationists. Forests have been cut down at an alarming rate for infrastructure projects and to feed humanity’s insatiable appetite for wood, tea, coffee, and rubber. Wildlife is trapped, shot, snared and poisoned till some species are just not seen any more.
The king cobra is arguably the most intelligent of all snakes. It is the largest venomous snake in the world, growing to over five metres in length. While its venom is not as toxic as the spectacled cobra’s, it makes up for it in quantity. It can inject 6 ml of venom in a single bite compared to a mere 2 ml of the much smaller spectacled cobra. King cobras may live for 30 years or more. Their sense of sight and smell are extraordinary and they generally slip away into the forest before any human even sees them. Not much is known about king cobra numbers in the wild, but the more we destroy our rainforests, the less space there is for a mighty predator. - Reproduced
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