Rare snake spotted in state for the first time

By Express News Service - BELLARY 11th April 2013

Coluber bolanathi | Express Photo

A rare mildly venomous snake Coluber bolanathi, commonly known as Nagarjun Sagar Racer, has been discovered for the first time at Bellary in Karnataka.

The 31-inch C. Bolanathi was rescued by conservationist and businessman Aditya Vattam from the backyard of a house near Bellary Fort recently.

Coluber bolanathi is found in dry and rocky hills of South India. It was first spotted in Nallamala hills of Andhra Pradesh in 1976 by R C Sharma but there is no record of it in Karnataka till now, Vattam told Express.

A member of indiansnakes.org, Vattam sent its photographs to the portal founder Vivek Sharma for identification.

Sharma confirmed that it was the first record of the snake in Karnataka.

He told Express that after the discovery of the snake in 1976, there were no significant attempts to study this species due to lack of literature and photographs.

C. bolanathi is chocolate brown with numerous light brown bands in the back of its body. It is a fast and alert species, active during the day. The racer can grow upto 110 cm, said Vattam.

As dry and rocky hills are the preferred habitat of this snake, the conservationist  urged for the protection of the rocky hills of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to ensure the safety of this little known snake.

Source: http://newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/Rare-snake-spotted-in-state-for-the-first-time/2013/04/11/article1539767.ece

1,000 snakes released into Palar

Chennai: Panic gripped the villagers of Ayambakkam, near mad­ura­nthakam in Kanche­epuram district on Satu­rday as the morning walkers and farmers were greeted by hundreds of snakes that were released by some unknown people in the area the previous night.

The villagers claimed that there were more than 100 snakes released into Palar river basin and suspect that the miscreant had come in a Pondicherry-registered bolero car. “What we saw was a large number of snakes near the river bank, an unusual sight and a twenty year old was bitten”, said T.S. Bhaskar, Ayambakkam villaghe panchayat president, who rus­hed to the place after the villagers ran helter skelter. The scared villagers on seeing the reptiles started killing them and at least half a dozen reptiles were found dead. Cobra, rat snake and kraits were there and we alerted the forest department, added the local body president.

When contacted Tiru­porur forest ranger Siva­ram confirmed the incident. Based on the information forest guards were deployed to the scene and Irulas were also brought to catch the snakes. More than twenty snakes were caught.  Preliminary investigations have confirmed that the snakes were released on purpose and a few villagers noticed a bolero car with Pondic­herry registration station­ed near the river bank the previous night. The rescued reptiles have been sent to for herpetology at the Madras Crocodile bank at ECR. The issue has been taken to the higher officials who will co ordinate with the Pondicherry forest depa­rt­ment, he said.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130210/news-current-affairs/article/1000-snakes-released-palar