By Malaka Rodrigo
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| One of the venomous ones- the Russel’s Viper |
I still remember the gypsy snake charmer who visited our village with a scary looking cobra. When he played his odd-looking flute, the cobra would start to sway, its hood spread. The gypsy claimed he had hypnotized the cobra with his music. But last weekend, sitting in Elephant Arena 1 at the Dehiwela Zoological Gardens watching the Zoo’s latest innovation, the Snake Show, I learnt that this was a myth.
“Snakes do not have external ears, so the music doesn’t inspire snakes to dance,” explained Nihal Senerath – the Dehiwela Zoo’s education officer to the large crowd gathered for the inaugural Snake Show.
The half an hour Snake Show which is held at 2.30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, is indeed a novel experience for visitors. And strangely enough, it was the enthusiasm shown by visitors for the baby Anacondas born at the Zoo last month that inspired the Zoo administrators to start the snake show.
Mr. Senarath went on to dispel many more myths that surround these misunderstood creatures. The snakes actually respond to the rhythmic shaking of the snake charmer’s right knee, and not the music, he added.
Sri Lanka is home to 98 different varieties of snakes. Only five snakes are responsible for lethal attacks, but snake bites are relatively common in remote areas.
Snakes are probably the most hated animals, even though they are an important link in our environment. Without knowing which one is poisonous and which is not, people tend to kill all creepy-crawlies. “Convincing the visitors that not all snakes are venomous is one aim of the Snake Show,” Duminda Jayaratne, Director of the Zoological Gardens said.
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| Kids reacting to the close encounter with baby Anacondas |
The Russel’s Viper and Indian Cobra are two of the venomous snakes that are taken out of their protective boxes for the snake show. The viper’s hiss is so loud that visitors get goose bumps, but keeper Premasiri Peiris, who takes care of the Zoo’s reptiles handled it without batting an eyelid.
Visitors also got a glimpse of the deadly fangs of the Russel’s viper – definitely something that they would rather not see when the snake is without a handler.
The cobra displaying its majestic hood was another star of the show. The handlers were even brave enough to touch the top of its hood. Mr. Senerath explained to the crowd that every snake has a striking range, which is usually one third of its body length.
All these snakes have their fangs untouched.
The Baby Anacondas are the star attraction of the Snake Show. These Amazonian snakes were taken to the performing arena in a container with water and the handlers wet their hands before touching them to make sure these water snakes were not exposed to hostile conditions.
All those present, including the children were excited by this close encounter with the anacondas, some going as far as to touch the babies.
Zoo keepers say they will add more snakes to the show in future providing variety to this already ‘house-full’ attraction.
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