An international team of scientists identified the snake and its range, which includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, and Russia including a small region extending into the corner of Europe. Based on the genetic and morphological data, the researchers were able to say that the Blotched Rat Snake (Elaphe …
Deforestation of mangroves in the coastal areas of West Bengal is wiping out a large variety of snakes. The results of the Zoological Survey of India's (ZSI) first ever field study of snake habitats have raised much concern. The ZSI scientists have based their conclusions on the basis of repetitive …
To foreign tourists, snake charmers symbolise the exotic East and all its mysteries. But snake charmers now have a more useful role to play than being just items of curiosity -- they have formed a cooperative to market snake venom to the drug industry. Snake catchers, who earlier earned a …
MEASURING the radioactivity of snake venom, scientists say, can fairly accurately determine overall con7 tamination in an area. This would be particularly useful in such places as the former Soviet Union, which is contaminated by different kinds of radioactive isotopes as a result of waste released from nuclear fuel plants, …
IT WAS a strange case of politicians taking out their venom on snakes. Angry CPM workers in Kerala vandalised and set fire to the Parassinikkadavu Snake Park in Kannur. The reason for the wanton destruction of what was one of the finest snake sanctuaries in Asia, was the defeat of …
CATCHING rats the way Irula tribals do is not only environmentally safe but also cost-effective -- for they don't use poison or chemicals. All they need are their bare hands. Field trials in controlling rat numbers using these methods were conducted in 1984 by the Irula Snake Catcher's Industrial Cooperative …
