Authorities at the Dr Shivarama Karanth Biological Park in Pilikula Nisarga Dhama, about 12km from Mangalore, are excited after four ‘inmates’ of the slithering kind laid 80 eggs.
Authorities at the Dr Shivarama Karanth Biological Park in Pilikula Nisarga Dhama, about 12km from Mangalore, are excited after four ‘inmates’ of the slithering kind laid 80 eggs.
“Let alone laying eggs, it is difficult to make them mate in captivity. In that sense, the King Cobra Conservation Programme has become the first centre to achieve its breeding in captivity in the world,” claimed Jayaprakash Bhandary, director of the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama and wildlife warden of the park.
Though efforts were on to protect the breeding zones of king cobras in the Western Ghats, reports said the number of the population of the venomous reptile were dwindling faster due to human interference in their natural habitat as well as habitat loss.
“King cobras have always inspired awe and fear among human beings. Its venom can even kill an elephant,” said Bhandary. Researchers were yet to make headway in studying the reptile in the Western Ghats due to the serpent’s shy nature. They can sense presence of any other animals within a radius of 200 meters.
“Human interference, mostly by researchers and filmmakers, has become a major threat and the mating of the reptile does not consummate in breeding,” said Bhandary.
The habitat loss has been very vast. “Bamboo forests are the natural habitat of the king cobra. In the last few years, the Western Ghats have lost many thousand acres of bamboo to construction of roads, hydro-electric plants, petroleum pipeline and ever expanding human habitation.”
Bhandary said the park has been trying to recreate the right conditions for successful hatching of the eggs. “They take not less than 60 to 70 days to hatch. Not all of them are fertile even when they breed in their natural habitat” said Bhandary.
The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) awarded the exclusive king cobra breeding centre status to Pilikula Nisarga Dhama in 2004 and ever since the centre has been creating an environment conducive for breeding.
CZA member-secretary Jayakumar said that though the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama’s wildlife enclosure was not under the CZA, “we have watched the developments there and appreciated it very much. We have supported it with our network wildlife reserves to improve their stock.”
The park was also been commended by the international wildlife fraternity for successfully breeding blackbucks in this part of the country, where the conditions were not entirely suitable for their breeding.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}