Snakes

Introduction,
Identification of poisonous & non poisonous snakes,
Poison apparatus,
Venom and its effects

Introduction:
Snakes evolved from lizards during the coenozoic era some 65 milion years ago. Lizards in turn
originated in the early mesozoic era about 200 million years ago.
Hindus, Warranmungas of Australia, Red Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans- all regarded snakes
to be divine in origin. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, snakes were the guardians of graves and
dwellings. Snakes are worshipped in India, Papua, Japan, China, Africa and other places. However,
this divine practice is to save the snakes.
The offerings to snakes are usually materials that the snakes themselves cannot eat. These offerings
attract rats, mice and other rodents which are natural prey of snakes. Therefore, in a roundabout
way, snake worship is actually a way of helping them to help us get rid of rodent pests.
Nagarapanchami, a Hindu festival which is usually celebrated during July- August is the day for the
worship of snakes in the west and southern part of India. It coincides with the hatching season of
snake eggs.
Snakes live on trees, in deep underground, in freshwater bodies and even in oceans. They may eat
rats, birds, fishes and even other snakes and sometimes big mammals like deer. A snake may be
brightly coloured and long or dull brown and short.
The largest snake is the non- venomous anaconda of South America which grows to an extent of
9mts in length and can swallow a deer easily. In India, reticulated python is the giant among
snakes. It grows to about 8mts in length. King cobra can grow to about 5mts and is often as thick as
a fat man’s arm. At the other extreme is the tiny worm snake (typhlops). It is hard to believe that it
really is a snake and is often mistaken for an earthworm.
Snakes never stops growing, but they grow faster in first two years of their lives. As children
always grow out of clothes and shoes, snakes also need new skin once in a while. The outer thin
layer of the skin becomes too tight, so they grow a new one and crawl out of the old. This is known
as ‘Shedding’ or ‘Sloughing’. This phenomenon made the Greeks to believe that snakes live for
ever.
Snakes do not have keen eye sight and are often not able to recognize objects which are near. When
hunting for food, they use their sense of smell which is sharp. Interestingly, the main organ of smell
is not the nose but the tongue.
People believe that snakes can hear and even respond to music. Seeing snakes swaying to the snake
charmer flute is certainly not true that snakes are dancing to the music. Actually the snake is
terrified by seeing the giant man with his strange instrument and is keeping an eye on his
movements. As a matter of fact, snakes and other reptiles have only a single middle ear bone called
columella (homologous to mammalian ear ossicle called stapes), which is in direct contact with
quadrate bone of the skull (Quadrate bone forms upper part of the jaw joint. The lower jaw
articulates at the articular bone, located at the rear end of the lower jaw. The quadrate bone forms
the lower jaw articulation in all classes except mammals). This quadrate bone picks up the
vibrations made on the ground by the movement of animals and humans.

Snakes mate only with their own species. During the breeding season, snakes leave a trail of scent
on the ground from their musk glands which help the males to find the females. Sometimes several
males can be seen chasing the local beauty.
Some snakes lay eggs (oviparous) like cobra, some give birth to young ones (Ovoviviparous) like
vipers, sea snakes, vine snakes, sand boa. Nature’s timing is perfect and the eggs usually hatch
during the early rains when tadpoles, fishes and insects are in plenty.
Some people eat snakes. There are restaurants in Hong Kong where you can choose the one you
want from a cage-full of live snakes, your choice is then killed and cooked.
Just as every mosquito bite doesn’t cause malaria, so is every snake bite which does not cause death
or poisoning.
There are about 300 species of snakes in India, of which 20% of them (about 60 of them) are
venomous. If we consider the list of snakes whose venom is fatal to man, the list can be narrowed
down to just four. Leading the list is the popular cobra followed by the Krait, then the Russell’s
viper and finally the saw scaled viper. All these are terrestrial snakes. Among the snakes in the
ocean, the most fearsome is the long- beaked sea snake. None of the Indian freshwater snakes are
venomous.

Identifications of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes

Tail

Laterally compressed & oar like Cylindrical & pointed Blunt at tip
- Sea snakes Terrestrial snakes
Ex: Hydrophis Poisonous/non-poisonous Non-poisonous
Poisonous- Neurotoxic
Ovoviviparous

Ventrals (Belly scales)

Small & continuous with dorsals Broad & extend the entire belly Moderate but does not
extend

the entire belly region

-Non-poisonous Poisonous/non-poisonous Non-poisonous

Head

Imbricate scales, 3rd supra labial extend 4th supra labial

 Triangular head, & touch the norstril and eye shield largest, hexagonal
subcaudals double/single at the edges vertebrals

Ex; Viper
Hemotoxic Ex: Cobra Ex: Krait
Ovoviviparous Neurotoxic Neurotoxic
Oviparous Oviparous

Identification of snakes by scale count:

There is no simple way of differentiating a venomous snake from a non-venomous one merely by
using a scale character. Finding out whether a snake is venomous or not is correctly done by
identification of the species of a snake with the help of experts, or in their absence, close
examination of the snake and using authoritative references on the snakes of the particular
geographical region to identify it. Scale patterns help to indicate the species and from the
references, it can be verified if the snake species is known to be venomous or not.
Species identification using scales requires a fair degree of knowledge about snakes, their
taxonomy, snake-scale nomenclature as well as familiarity with and access to scientific literature.
Distinguishing by using scale diagrams whether a snake is venomous or not in the field cannot be
done in the case of uncaught specimens. It is not advisable to catch a snake to check whether it is
venomous or not using scale diagrams. Most books or websites provide an array of traits of the
local herpetofauna, other than scale diagrams, which help to distinguish whether a snake in the field
is venomous or not.
In certain regions, presence or absence of certain scales may be a quick way to distinguish non-
venomous and venomous snakes, but used with care and knowledge of exceptions. For example,
in Myanmar, the presence or absence of loreal scales can be used to distinguish between relatively
harmless Colubrid and lethally venomous Elapids. The rule of hand for this region is that the
absence of a loreal scale between the nasal scale and pre-ocular scale indicates that the snake is an
Elapid and hence lethal. This rule-of-thumb cannot be used without care as it cannot be applied to
vipers, which have a large number of small scales on the head. A careful check would also be
needed to exclude known poisonous members of the Colubrid family such as Rhabdophis.
In South Asia, it is advisable to take the snake which has bitten a person, if it has been killed, and
carry it along to the hospital for possible identification by medical staff using scale diagrams so that
an informed decision can be taken by them as to whether and which anti-venom is to be
administered. However, attempts to catch it or kill the venomous snake are not advised as the snake
may bite more people.
Poison apparatus of snakes:

Poisonous snakes possess poison apparatus consisting of a pair of poison glands, their ducts, fangs
& muscles. Poison glands are located one on either sides of the upper jaw, below and little behind
the eyes. They are modified superior labial/parotid glands, which are specialized salivary glands.
They are small & oval in sea snakes but large and tubular in vipers. Each gland is thickly
encapsulated with fibrous connective tissue and by constrictor muscles called temporal/masseter
muscles. These muscles stretch during biting thus squeezing poison into the ducts. Fangs are large,
curved, sharp specialized teeth of the upper jaw/maxilla. They may be tubular (closed type) or
grooved (open type). Usually there is a pair of functional fangs. In addition, reserve fangs &
developing fangs may be present behind the functional fangs. These fangs function as hypodermic
needles. The groove or canal is connected to the poison gland through the poison duct and opens at
the tip of the fang. The fangs are small in sea snakes but quite long in vipers.
Structurally, fangs are classified into three types. They are solenoglyphus, proteroglyphous &
opisthoglyphous
Solenoglyphus fangs:
Snakes belonging to the viper family (viperidae-movable front fang) possess these fangs. They are
large located in the front of the maxilla. Base is enveloped in a sheath with few reserve &
developing fangs. When mouth is closed these fangs can be folded along the roof of the buccal
cavity. A hollow poison canal runs through the fang to open at the tip.
Proteroglyphous fangs:
These fangs are present in snakes like cobras & Kraits belonging to family elapidae and in coral
snakes and sea snakes of the family Hydrophidae. They are small fangs, permanently erect & fixed
in front of the upper jaw. They are characterized by a groove along its anterior face.
Opisthoglyphous fangs:
These fangs are seen in snakes belonging to the family colubridae like north American garter
snakes, grass snakes. They are small, lying at the back of the upper jaw. They are characterized by
a groove at the lateral surface of the fang.
Aglyphous fangs:
These fangs lack any groove for the venom to run down. Instead the venom drip down the teeth
from available openings & thus saturating the maxillae. For envenomation, they must chew on its
prey. Ex: Bling snake, some colubrids (African sand snake, Banded rat snake, vine snake)

Venom: composition & effects:

Snake venom is a complex organic secretions of the poison gland for either defensive or offensive
purpose. It is a clear, yellow, sticky, tasteless, odorless, acidic fluid containing a variety of proteins,
polypeptides & hydrolytic enzymes dissolved in organic acid. Many of these proteins are harmless
to humans, but some are toxic. On drying, it breaks into pieces & can be dissolved in salt solution,
glycerin and water. It can be precipitated with silver nitrite solution & potassium permanganate.
Dried venom can be powdered & stored indefinitely without losing its toxicity. When the solution
of the powder is swallowed, it acts as an excellent digestive juice, but can be fatal if the digestive
tract has an injury.
Each venom has its own characteristics & toxicity & thus can be broadly differentiated into two
types- Neurotoxic & Hemotoxic. Neurotoxic venom acts on the nervous system. It may affect the
optic nerve causing blindness or may act on the phrenic nerve of the diaphragm producing
respiratory paralysis. Hemotoxic venom breaks RBCs & can also destroy the endothelium of the
capillaries resulting in bleeding & clotting of blood in the tissues. Venom however can have both
the properties. In general, the chemical composition of snake venom is Phosphodiesterase, alpha &
beta neurotoxins, hyaluronidase, amino acid oxidases, proteases and ATPase.
Phosphodiesterease interferes with prey’s cardiac system mainly to lower the blood pressure.
Alpha & beta neurotoxins inhibit cholinesterase to make the prey loose muscle control.
Hyaluronidase increase tissue permeability of the tissues to absorb enzymes of the venom.
Amino acid oxidase gives yellow coloration to the venom
Proteases helps in digestion.
ATPase breaks ATPs to disrupt prey’s energy/fuel use.
Lucien, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte is believed to have established the proteinecious nature of
venom.
Effect of venom is type specific. The degree of virulence varies from snake to snake & in the same
snake under different conditions, since the make-up of venom varies widely from species to
species.
While snakebites are common in India with over 50,000 people dying annually due to it, the same
kind of snake may inject different venom depending on which region the person gets bitten.
Recent study, at Center for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore, showed that there is dramatic
difference in composition and toxicity based on geographical location. They also found that the
commercial antivenin treatment for Russell’s viper works as marketed for most populations of this
snake, except north Indian. This is in contrast to a previous study on cobras, which showed similar
variation in venom based on location, but the commercial antivenin was not effective against most
populations.
Life and death of the victim depends on the amount of venom injected & its virulence. Toxicity of
venom is expressed by LD50 (Lowest dose that kills 50% of a group of experimental animals). It is
noteworthy to know that the size of the fang is in no relation to the virulence of the venom. The
venom of the same species of snakes vary in chemical composition based on geographical
distribution. Hence the antivenin of a species is effective only in that geographical region.
Blood serum containing the antibodies of specific venom is referred as anti-venom. It is obtained
by injecting mild concentration of specific venom into the body of a horse/sheep. Albert
Calamette was the first to establish the production of antivenin by gradual increase in the dose of
venom into horse. Serum institute at Pune, King’s institute, Madras, Haffkin’s institute, Bombay
are some organizations that makes antivenin. In an unknown bite, a polyvalent antivenin is
administered by the physician that acts against the antigens of the common four land snakes.
Antivenin are antibodies that bind to toxins in the venom and neutralize them. Even when this
binding is seen in laboratory experiments, it is not sufficient to predict whether this will happen in
the human body. In order to ensure antivenin are more effective against variants of venom,
researchers highlight the need for immediate production of region-specific antivenins.
Effects of the venom of cobra:
- Venom is neurotoxic, causing paralysis of the respiratory muscles by blocking the Ach receptors.
Symptoms:
Severe pain, burning sensation, numbness of the bitten area that turns blue or black.
- Giddiness, weakness in legs, high pulse rate, speechlessness, drooping of eyelids, salivation,
contraction of pupils, nausea or vomiting, difficulty in breathing. Death occurs within few hours
due to asphyxiation.
Effects of the venom of krait:
- Venom is neurotoxic. Each bite injects 3 times the venom of a cobra.
Symptoms:
Paralysis of the trunk & limbs, other symptoms are similar to that of a cobra, death occurs in 8-24
hours.

Effects of the venom of a viper:

- Venom is hemotoxic.
Symptoms:
- Local discoloration of the bitten area, swelling with acute pain, oozing of fluid from the wound
due to massive tissue distruction(necrosis) there by initiating the process of gangerine, Amputation
becomes necessary. Other symptoms as cobra bite. Death occurs due to paralysis of vasomotor
centers & exhaustion from bleeding.