The much celebrated two headed Python, was correctly identified last week as a young Russell's Viper. A common but oft fatal mistake. Luckily for the Wildlife Dept. officials, several of whom were bitten by the snake, this Viper's venom glands had not developed. However the glare of publicity of the first few days in Colombo became difficult for the snake to handle and it was moved to a secret location on Tuesday. Chamintha Thilakaratne reports.
The
baby snake tired of the large crowds which gathered to see it including
media personnel and school children, began to show signs of agitation and
distress. Concerned officials of the wildlife Department at Gregory's Road
whisked the reptile away to a safe undisclosed hiding place. A decision
was made thereafter, in the snake's best interest, not to allow anyone
to see or take photographs of the animal for at least another three weeks.
"People were forcing themselves into the department to see it and flashing photograph after photograph that after sometime it seemed quite tired and uncomfortable. We had to make a sudden decision to transport the animal to a safer place where it will not be harassed," said Dr.Nandana Atapattu, Assistant Director, Veterinary of the Wild Life Department.
The snake was first discovered by a group of school boys in Tissamaharamaya, in the township of Yodha Kandiya. They reported the unusual snake to the district police who took it to their custody. The police later informed wildlife authorities in the area who then made arrangements to transport it to Colombo.
Initially wildlife authorities identified it as a python, but zoo officials later confirmed it was in fact a Russell's Viper.
The one foot Russell's Viper had been already exhausted by the hectic trip from Tissamaharamaya to Colombo when the media blitz took over. It had also been starving since the Tissamaharamaya police, under whose care it was until wildlife authorities arrived were unable to feed it. At present it is under the care of the Department learning to cope with its new found popularity and the crowds that come with it and to overcome the abnormality of having two heads in one body.
The Department does not intend to set the creature free for they feel it would not be able to survive in the wild.
"It will be easy prey to other animals," said Dr. Atapattu. "Therefore, what we intend doing is to keep it under the protection of the department for safety and observation purposes, especially since this is the first of its kind. Then, we intend to display it to the general public hopefully in December," he said.
According to Dr. Atapattu, the three month old reptile who had been kept in a glass bottle at Tissmaha-ramaya, if set free is bound to find movement difficult and risks getting entangled in various places due to the double headed state. "This state is due to some deformity in the embryo. It has one spine which separates into two to support the skulls. The snake has four healthy eyes, two healthy noses and two efficient brains," he added.
He further stated that in many such cases surgery is a necessity because most often one of the two organs are malfunctioning. But in this case, all organs are functioning normally.
The snake is 9 inches from the tip of the tail to the bifurcation ( the division of heads) and 1 and1/2 inches long from the bifurcation to each of the tips of the heads. It has adapted an easy way of avoiding getting entangled by itself when moving around. This is by placing its left head on top of its right head which is slightly more active than the left one. At times, it prefers to use its left head only, which is larger than the right one, although it can use both the heads.
Feeding is done in the night and at the early stages Dr.Ata-pattu had to feed it, but now it has learnt to eat by itself. It feeds with both heads and has to be given live frogs, mice and other small animals, which it hunts down and swallows.
Plans are already afoot to take care of its needs and to observe it for research purposes. The research findings are expected to benefit the snake in the end, as Dr. Atapattu puts it, there is so much yet to be discovered about it and animal lovers will just have to wait and see what problems this little freak of nature is likely to face both physically and socially. Some things, Dr. Atapattu said, are difficult to predict.
However, the general public can expect to see this fascinating creature at the National Zoo in Dehiwela shortly. So hold your cameras until then.
The Russell's Viper is a commonly found deadly snake. The venom of this viper could easily kill a man.
The non-venomous Python and the Russell's Viper are often mistaken. Both have triangular heads and bear similar external markings.
"Several deaths have been recorded due to this common mistake," said Herpetologist Anslem de Silva.
Although the shape is similar, markings on the head differ from Viper to Python. While the Russell's Viper has a V shaped mark on the head the Python has a more pronounced dagger shape.
The Russell's Viper has three rows of rings on the body, the Python a rectangular pattern.
In 1958 there are records of two other two-headed Vipers-both found in the Sabaragamuwa province.
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