FANGS FACTS

ANCESTRY: 

Like all reptiles, snakes too are believed to have evolved from ‘amphibians’(Animals that can live on land as well as in water e.g. frogs and toads).  Their ‘serpentine locomotion’(A method of progression by the lateral undulations of the body) rendered their limbs useless.  However, many primitive snakes can still be seen with ‘vestigial’(Organs that have lost their functional ablating over evolutionary time.) hind limbs. 

NUMBERS: 

 

About 238 species of snakes are found in India alone.  The country’s varied climatic conditions provide for ideal snake habitats.  Actual numbers in the wild however are difficult to estimate.  But indirect estimates can be calculated, based on the fact that 10,000 snake bite deaths occur every year.  And about 10 million snake bite deaths every year.  And about 10 million snake skins were traded before the ban in 1976. 

PREDATORS: 

 

Any animal that is large enough or quick enough to escape a snakes venom and agility are considered natural predators.  The most common among them are raptors and the mongoose man is the only other (unnatural) predator, who hunts snakes for their skin, meat, and as a livelihood like south India’s ‘IRULA TRIBE.’  The effects of the skin trade can be seen in the widespread trafficking of snake skins, which has been banned since 1976.  as a result species such as the Indian rock python have become locally extinct.  However, illegal trade continues. 

MYTHS: 

Several deities in Hindu Mythology are associated with snakes, such as ‘Seshnaag and Vasuki’. Rural folk lordship as well as fear snakes for their supernatural powers.  In India’s western state of Maharashtra, ‘Naag-Panchami’ is devoted to the worship of cobras.  This snake worship is celebrated as Jhampan in the eastern state of West Bengal.