After lioness, a cobra falls prey to heat at Vandalur
CHENNAI: An 18-year-old female Indian king cobra died a few days ago at the veterinary hospital in the zoo after being ill for more than a month. The 16-metre serpent was the longest female king cobra in captivity in the country. Zoo officials said that heat could be the reason for the death, suggesting that the air conditioning may have failed, due to power cuts. The death came barely a week after the demise of a 23-year-old lioness, Reena, in the zoo.
The average lifespan of a king cobra is 25 years. Besides the Snake Park at Guindy, Vandalur Zoo is the only other enclosure in the country to host the world's largest venomous snake, king cobra. In just a single bite, it can inject up to 6-7 ml of venom, enough to kill an elephant or 20 persons. The venom is also used to develop painkillers to treat arthritis in humans. The king cobra is worshipped by Hindus, especially during the festival of Nag Panchami.
At Vandalur, a pair of ophiophagus hannah (the zoological name of king cobra) was brought from a village called Vadanamalli near Mahabalipuram a decade ago. Since then, the two cobras have been kept in an air-conditioned glass box. The health of the female serpent started deteriorating a month ago, while the male king cobra, which is nearly 20 years old, is in good health. According to biologists, king cobras prefer rain forests and humid jungles, thick undergrowth, cool swamps and bamboo clusters . They avoid human habitation, and they are mainly found in cooler places such as Ooty and Kodaikanal
The power generator in the zoo was not in good condition . As a result, the serpents, which are sensitive to hot weather, had to spend long hours in the heat. This had deteriorated the health of the female serpent.
King cobras are found across south east Asia, from India through southern China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The longest king cobras can be found in peninsular Malaysia. Cobras can slide up trees and bushes and spend a significant amount of time above the ground, looking for prey.
The average lifespan of a king cobra is 25 years. Besides the Snake Park at Guindy, Vandalur Zoo is the only other enclosure in the country to host the world's largest venomous snake, king cobra. In just a single bite, it can inject up to 6-7 ml of venom, enough to kill an elephant or 20 persons. The venom is also used to develop painkillers to treat arthritis in humans. The king cobra is worshipped by Hindus, especially during the festival of Nag Panchami.
At Vandalur, a pair of ophiophagus hannah (the zoological name of king cobra) was brought from a village called Vadanamalli near Mahabalipuram a decade ago. Since then, the two cobras have been kept in an air-conditioned glass box. The health of the female serpent started deteriorating a month ago, while the male king cobra, which is nearly 20 years old, is in good health. According to biologists, king cobras prefer rain forests and humid jungles, thick undergrowth, cool swamps and bamboo clusters . They avoid human habitation, and they are mainly found in cooler places such as Ooty and Kodaikanal
The power generator in the zoo was not in good condition . As a result, the serpents, which are sensitive to hot weather, had to spend long hours in the heat. This had deteriorated the health of the female serpent.
King cobras are found across south east Asia, from India through southern China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The longest king cobras can be found in peninsular Malaysia. Cobras can slide up trees and bushes and spend a significant amount of time above the ground, looking for prey.
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People should have improved their system and security to take care of the poor snake. Its such a shame that a precoius animal had left the world.The snake should have been take care and observed in a protective environment. Especially the irresistable heat to the snake and cause an ill condition to it.It is a bad thing of humans would do.It is all of the bad condition of the power generator that should make the serpents spend a long time to stand the heat under the hot sun. This is the very cause that make the female snake to devastated to death. They should have improved the system of the zoo to prevent powercuts. Anyway it is also a shamful thing that the zookeeper had no responsibilites to take care of the serpents and treat them bad.
posted by o-Fellix_Utama-o at
6:18 AM
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