Latest news with #snake
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
Toddler in India bites cobra to death in bizarre encounter
A two-year-old boy in India 's eastern state of Bihar killed a cobra by biting it after the venomous snake had slithered too close to him. Govinda Kumar was playing at home in Bankatwa village when he spotted the nearly metre-long snake, tried to grab it, only to have the reptile coil around his hands and attack him, according to local media. The boy's grandmother was quoted as saying that Govinda's reaction was to bite the snake's head, killing it on the spot. The child then passed out and was rushed to hospital. Grandmother Mateshwari Devi told local media: 'I was moving firewood near the house and the cobra came out ... We rushed towards the boy and saw he had taken the cobra's head into his mouth. We then separated the cobra from his mouth and hands. 'The cobra died on the spot, while the child fell unconscious.' The Hindustan Times reported that the child had bitten so hard into the snake that it was ripped in two. According to India Today, village locals had said the boy was possibly agitated by the snake coming too close to him.
The Sun
3 days ago
- The Sun
Meet the army of snake hunters prowling Brit holiday island for 7ft serpents ‘leaving tourists too scared to go in sea'
AN army of snake hunters on a popular holiday island are battling an invasion of 7ft serpents. The whopper reptiles - ballooning to more than twice their natural size - have got a stranglehold on the party island's wildlife and left holidaymakers 'too scared' to enter the sea. 7 7 7 7 Crack teams and activist locals have joined the battle against the destructive horseshoe whip snakes - which gorge on local animals. Inés Roig, of Ibiza Preservation, is one of the islanders dedicated to trapping and removing the unwelcome colonisers. The Sun joined Inés as she checked her snake traps in the Seis Feixes wetland near Ibiza town. She told us: "The horseshoe snakes on Ibiza can grow up to two metres [seven foot] long, and can be as thick as an arm. "On the mainland, they never grow to more than a metre. "But the snakes in Ibiza have gigantism - meaning they grow much larger than they usually would. "This is because they are invasive. "There are no natural predators and many of the native reptiles and mammals are easy prey." Bathing holidaymakers have spotted the snakes slipping around the shallows alongside them at some of the most popular spots around the coast. Inés said this is the first summer that the snake plague has been bad enough to impact tourists - and wildlife experts have been 'shocked' to find the creatures now entering the water. It means the snakes are reaching the smaller islets around Ibiza - and planting their flag there as well. Ibiza Preservation snared almost 500 snakes last year using 280 traps and is expanding its programme. Overall, hunters on the island captured a staggering 3,072 snakes in 2024. The traps use a live mouse scurrying around one chamber as bait - which lures the snake into the next-door compartment. But once it slithers in, the snake is trapped - and can't get to the mouse either. Instead, it will be scooped up by Inés or another wildlife officer and removed. Trap-making kits are also being handed out for free to locals who want to join the fight and set up in their gardens. 7 7 7 Ibiza's iconic wall lizards have suffered the most at the jaws of the snakes, along with small mammals and insects. The shimmering lizards have taken a hammering after being gobbled up by the whip snakes - and lizard protection is the key aim of Ines's programme. Inés said: "You used to see them [the lizards] everywhere, all over Ibiza, but now they are much more rare. "It's very sad." Wall lizards have now been wiped out from 70 per cent of the island, according to El Pais. Inés continued: "We need to cut the snake numbers as much as we can. Our focus is on preserving lizard numbers in areas of high biodiversity. "I've heard in the news they are scaring the tourists and I know the locals don't like them either - they are very thick and scary. Some are like anacondas." Horseshoe whip snakes arrived in Ibiza after they were stowed away inside a delivery of ornamental olive trees from the mainland. They were first detected in 2003 - and in the past few years have run riot. Orio Lapiedra, head of the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, said: 'They advance as if they were on the front of a battle zone. 'You have to imagine the snakes as if they were an actual wave, devouring what they find.' The snakes aren't venomous and don't pose any serious threat to humans. But Ines said she's received nasty nips on her arms collecting snakes from traps. Jordi Serapio, coordinator of the lizard protection programme, said: 'Completely eliminating snake populations that have already become naturalised on the island for so many years is impossible. 'The current situation of the Ibiza wall lizard is very worrying. 'The fight against these invasive snakes is one of the most significant biodiversity conservation challenges that we are currently facing on the island.'
Arab News
5 days ago
- Science
- Arab News
World's smallest snake makes big comeback
WASHINGTON: A snake so small it could be mistaken for a worm has been spotted in Barbados, nearly two decades after it was thought to have been 'lost' to science. The Barbados threadsnake was found hiding under a rock in central Barbados during an ecological survey in March by the Barbados Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification and conservation group Re:wild. 'Barbados threadsnakes are blind snakes, so they're very cryptic,' said Connor Blades, a project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados who helped make the finding, in a statement. 'They're quite rare also, it seems. There have only been a handful of confirmed sightings since 1889, so there are not many people who have ever seen it, unfortunately.' Measuring just three to four inches long when fully grown — tiny enough to almost fit on a US quarter coin — the Barbados threadsnake is the world's smallest species of snake. It is distinguished by orange stripes along its back, eyes on the sides of its head and a small scale on its snout. 'When you are so accustomed to looking for things and you don't see them, you are shocked when you actually find it,' said Justin Springer of Re:wild, who made the discovery alongside Blades. 'You can't believe it. That's how I felt. You don't want to get your hopes up too high.' The breakthrough came after more than a year of searching, as the pair upturned rocks trapped beneath a tree root. The tiny snake, which was found alongside an earthworm, was taken to the University of West Indies for careful examination under a microscope — it closely resembles the Brahminy blind snake, an invasive species, so the finding had to be validated — before it was returned to the forest. Only two percent of the Caribbean island's primary forest remains intact, with the rest cleared for agriculture since the start of the colonial era 400 years ago. The Barbados threadsnake remains particularly vulnerable since it reproduces sexually and females lay a clutch of only one egg. Female Brahminy blind snakes, by contrast, can produce fertile eggs without mating. 'The threadsnake's rediscovery is also a call to all of us as Barbadians that forests in Barbados are very special and need protection,' said Springer. 'Not just for the threadsnake, but for other species as well. For plants, animals and our heritage.'
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
World's smallest snake rediscovered in Barbados 20 years after last sighting
The world's smallest snake has been rediscovered in Barbados, 20 years after its last sighting. The Barbados threadsnake, which had been feared extinct, was rediscovered under a rock in the centre of the island during an ecological survey in March by the nation's environment ministry and the conservation organisation Re:wild. The reptile can reach 9 to 10 cm in length when it is fully grown and is as thin as a strand of spaghetti. It had been on a global list of 4,800 plants, animals and fungi species that have been lost to science. The rarity of the snake is a concern for scientists. Connor Blades, a project officer for the Barbados environment ministry, said: 'If the threadsnake population is not very dense, I am worried about their ability to find mates, particularly if their habitat is under threat and being degraded.' Blades and Justin Springer, the Caribbean programme officer at Re:wild, had been looking for the threadsnake and several other endemic reptiles for more than a year as part of a conservation project. During a survey in March, Springer jokingly told Blade 'I smell a threadsnake' while turning over a rock trapped under a tree root; to their surprise, the snake was beneath it. 'When you are so accustomed to looking for things and you don't see them, you are shocked when you actually find it,' Springer said. Blades took the snake to the University of the West Indies, and upon examination under a microscope, the pale orange lines running across its body and the scale on its nose confirmed it was what they were looking for. The first sighting of the Barbados threadsnake was in 1889, and there have only been a handful of confirmed sightings since. The threadsnake reproduces sexually and the females lay a clutch of only one egg, unlike some other reptiles that can produce fertile eggs without mating. With 98% of the island's forest has been cleared for agriculture since it was colonised more than 500 years ago, conservationists are concerned for the rediscovered reptile's extinction by habitat destruction and invasive species. 'The threadsnake's rediscovery is also a call to all of us as Barbadians that forests in Barbados are very special and need protection,' said Springer. 'Not just for the threadsnake, but for other species as well. For plants, animals and our heritage.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Exotic corn snake pulled from oven in Sydney's west
The snake is believed to be an illegal pet that escaped from a nearby home. Source: Sydney Snakes and Wildlife Removal Video transcript Oh, hold that, there it is. It's a good one. That's right, yep, just. Oh, it's twirling itself out everywhere. You're crazy. Oh, there it is. Look at that, here we go. Look at that. Uh, okay, well, there it is. Uh, to be honest, it's not a native species. I don't really know where. There you go.
