It rains here. I mean, it really rains. The rain has hardly taken a break over the last two weeks. When it does, it comes down as a gentle shower, throwing down tiny droplets falling in almost slow motion. When it has had enough rest, it comes down roaring, with huge drops threatening to break the tin roof of my hut in ANET base. The tin sheets serve to exaggerate the apparent strength of the rain. I am a rain lover, having no qualms about getting wet feet. However, the rains here made me also hoping to see sunshine.
Anderson’s pit vipers seem to share this feeling with me. They seem to love the rains here. I found my first ever Anderson’s pit viper shortly after the first rain late in the month of March. The rain had wet the wooden steps of the hut, and me being in a hurry to go and look for nocturnal reptiles, was too careless while stepping down. The fall wasn’t too bad; I got up quickly, making sure that nobody saw it and walked quickly forward, for another five meters or so, when the headlamp revealed the coiled up pit viper on the ground ahead of me. My first pit viper in the islands! The fall seemed like a small price to pay for this reward. He wasn’t very big; only about 45 cm long. But size didn’t matter, for he was a pit viper in all his sinister beauty. A spear like head, long chin, sharp nose, the name-giving heat-sensing pits on his face, golden eyes with narrow vertically elongated pupils that contracted to thin lines under the light of my torch, and the raised ridges above the eyes that gave him that typical pit viper (read “menacing”) look. I thanked the rain.
If that snake was on the smaller end of the size scale of pit vipers, my next Anderson’s pit viper was certainly not. Again, the night was rainy. This time, the rain was so strong that even with an umbrella, after having dinner I decided not to walk back to my hut from the kitchen, about 50 m of walking through a narrow beaten path going through not so bad vegetation, until the rain subsides. The rain seemed to be in no hurry to retreat. So, at 11:00 pm, thoughts of a hot cup of tea started bugging me. I took a glass, and went behind the kitchen to wash it. Half way, I thought it will be better to have my torch with me, picked it up an
d went back. The first thing illuminated by the beam of light was a pit viper, sitting close to a corner, not less than 3 feet in length, its head almost as large as that of an adult Russell’s viper, in that typical, ready-to-strike, pit viper hunting position. I had seen a few rats running around near the kitchen, and I suspect that those little rodents invited that snake.
Anderson’s pit vipers seem to be common in forested areas in Andaman. But, nothing could prepare me for the shear number of pit vipers that I was to encounter in the Islands of Nicobars. The 19th century naturalist and explorer Ferdinand Stoliczka wrote of them, “Pit vipers are very common in these islands, the jungles of Nancowry and Camorta teeming with them.” I haven’t gone to Nancowry or Camorta yet. I went to Car Nicobar, the northern-most island in Nicobars. A lot of people, Nicobarese, and their coconut palms inhabit this 126 km2 of flat land surrounded by salt water. The forest is patchy, and the patches seemed to be waiting for their turn to be converted to plantations, roads or buildings. Still, in whatever forest was left, pit vipers seemed to thrive. The species I encountered here most often was of a different kind, called the Nicobar pit viper, a smaller cousin of the Anderson’s pit viper. They were everywhere- on the ground, on bushes, on trees. Next to their numbers, the thing that amazed me the most was the different colour patterns exhibited by these pit vipers. You find them cross-barred, you find them striped, you find them with no pattern, mix of patterns, dark, light..... And if Nicobar pit vipers were not enough, there were those bright green pit vipers on bushes and trees. Some herpetologists place them in the species called white-lipped pit viper, though none of the snakes from Car Nicobar had the white stripe along the side of the belly that is characteristic of males of white-lipped pit vipers from South East Asia. Frankly, I am not very sure that the green pit vipers from Car Nicobar belong to that species; perhaps they are closely related only. That place was pit viper hot spot, though a fast disappearing one. Now, if, what I have read about some of the other islands in Nicobars is still true, I can’t wait to get there.
It was still raining when I reached Great Nicobar. After all that fun with pit vipers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, I was a tad disappointed when I remembered that this, the largest island in Nicobars, had no pit vipers. Why is that so? No less than four species are known from other islands in Nicobars. Car Nicobar alone hosts three while the islands in the central group, like Nancowry and Camorta, have two. Not considering the other islands in the southern group, namely Little Nicobar and a few adjacent tiny islands, Great Nicobar is more than 10 times the size of Car Nicobar. It has most of its area covered with undisturbed tropical rain forest, and has mountains rising to about 2000 feet above sea level. It is also the island closest to the island nation of Indonesia, whose large islands are inhabited by a number of different pit vipers. None seem to have made it to Great Nicobar or any of the other islands in the southern group. In fact, none of the many different venomous snakes that inhabit the South East Asian land mass are found in Great Nicobar, except for sea snakes and the mildly venomous “rear-fanged” snakes. Historical accident? Perhaps..., perhaps not. I would give an arm and a leg to know.
But, all these islands; pit viper laden Car Nicobar and Andaman, and pit viper void Great Nicobar share one thing. It rains there too..... It really rains.
Fangs for reading.
Anderson’s pit vipers seem to share this feeling with me. They seem to love the rains here. I found my first ever Anderson’s pit viper shortly after the first rain late in the month of March. The rain had wet the wooden steps of the hut, and me being in a hurry to go and look for nocturnal reptiles, was too careless while stepping down. The fall wasn’t too bad; I got up quickly, making sure that nobody saw it and walked quickly forward, for another five meters or so, when the headlamp revealed the coiled up pit viper on the ground ahead of me. My first pit viper in the islands! The fall seemed like a small price to pay for this reward. He wasn’t very big; only about 45 cm long. But size didn’t matter, for he was a pit viper in all his sinister beauty. A spear like head, long chin, sharp nose, the name-giving heat-sensing pits on his face, golden eyes with narrow vertically elongated pupils that contracted to thin lines under the light of my torch, and the raised ridges above the eyes that gave him that typical pit viper (read “menacing”) look. I thanked the rain.
If that snake was on the smaller end of the size scale of pit vipers, my next Anderson’s pit viper was certainly not. Again, the night was rainy. This time, the rain was so strong that even with an umbrella, after having dinner I decided not to walk back to my hut from the kitchen, about 50 m of walking through a narrow beaten path going through not so bad vegetation, until the rain subsides. The rain seemed to be in no hurry to retreat. So, at 11:00 pm, thoughts of a hot cup of tea started bugging me. I took a glass, and went behind the kitchen to wash it. Half way, I thought it will be better to have my torch with me, picked it up an
d went back. The first thing illuminated by the beam of light was a pit viper, sitting close to a corner, not less than 3 feet in length, its head almost as large as that of an adult Russell’s viper, in that typical, ready-to-strike, pit viper hunting position. I had seen a few rats running around near the kitchen, and I suspect that those little rodents invited that snake.Anderson’s pit vipers seem to be common in forested areas in Andaman. But, nothing could prepare me for the shear number of pit vipers that I was to encounter in the Islands of Nicobars. The 19th century naturalist and explorer Ferdinand Stoliczka wrote of them, “Pit vipers are very common in these islands, the jungles of Nancowry and Camorta teeming with them.” I haven’t gone to Nancowry or Camorta yet. I went to Car Nicobar, the northern-most island in Nicobars. A lot of people, Nicobarese, and their coconut palms inhabit this 126 km2 of flat land surrounded by salt water. The forest is patchy, and the patches seemed to be waiting for their turn to be converted to plantations, roads or buildings. Still, in whatever forest was left, pit vipers seemed to thrive. The species I encountered here most often was of a different kind, called the Nicobar pit viper, a smaller cousin of the Anderson’s pit viper. They were everywhere- on the ground, on bushes, on trees. Next to their numbers, the thing that amazed me the most was the different colour patterns exhibited by these pit vipers. You find them cross-barred, you find them striped, you find them with no pattern, mix of patterns, dark, light..... And if Nicobar pit vipers were not enough, there were those bright green pit vipers on bushes and trees. Some herpetologists place them in the species called white-lipped pit viper, though none of the snakes from Car Nicobar had the white stripe along the side of the belly that is characteristic of males of white-lipped pit vipers from South East Asia. Frankly, I am not very sure that the green pit vipers from Car Nicobar belong to that species; perhaps they are closely related only. That place was pit viper hot spot, though a fast disappearing one. Now, if, what I have read about some of the other islands in Nicobars is still true, I can’t wait to get there.
It was still raining when I reached Great Nicobar. After all that fun with pit vipers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, I was a tad disappointed when I remembered that this, the largest island in Nicobars, had no pit vipers. Why is that so? No less than four species are known from other islands in Nicobars. Car Nicobar alone hosts three while the islands in the central group, like Nancowry and Camorta, have two. Not considering the other islands in the southern group, namely Little Nicobar and a few adjacent tiny islands, Great Nicobar is more than 10 times the size of Car Nicobar. It has most of its area covered with undisturbed tropical rain forest, and has mountains rising to about 2000 feet above sea level. It is also the island closest to the island nation of Indonesia, whose large islands are inhabited by a number of different pit vipers. None seem to have made it to Great Nicobar or any of the other islands in the southern group. In fact, none of the many different venomous snakes that inhabit the South East Asian land mass are found in Great Nicobar, except for sea snakes and the mildly venomous “rear-fanged” snakes. Historical accident? Perhaps..., perhaps not. I would give an arm and a leg to know.
But, all these islands; pit viper laden Car Nicobar and Andaman, and pit viper void Great Nicobar share one thing. It rains there too..... It really rains.
Fangs for reading.
2 comments:
Thats a beautiful article Hari... I could picture every moment... wish even I had such work to do...
Eagerly awaiting for more of your posts...
Regards,
Humaid.
And to think that this person had to be forced, cajoled and coerced (I think even threatened) to write!
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