“It’s a swamp adder!” cried Holmes; “the deadliest snake in India. He has died with ten seconds of being bitten” (The Speckled Band, Arthur Conan Doyle)
In this video we look at Peninsular Malaysia’s predominantly neurotoxic venomous snakes; namely the cobras, kraits and coral snakes. These snakes can inject toxins that act directly on the nervous system and cause paralysis of the respiratory muscles… simply put, envenomation can result in you being unable to breathe and, possibly while still conscious and aware of what is happening, you will slowly die of asphyxiation – effectively drowning while surrounded by air.
Not a nice way to go, and if you want to read a chilling account of a fatal envenomation and the various stages, read this article about the death of herpetologist Joe Slowinski following a krait bite.
King Cobras who can stand 5 ft tall and inject massive quantities of venom, cobras who can spit venom into your eyes with uncanny accuracy, the gentle bite of the deadly krait that may go unnoticed, like a passing kiss of death, until you find your eyelids drooping as you begin to lose the ability to breathe …
…all scary stuff indeed.
But the good news is that these neurotoxic snakes (whose venom is most likely to kill you) are also the snakes least likely to bite you, whereas those venomous snakes who are more likely to bite you (the vipers) have venom that is less likely to kill you (at least not as quickly!)
There is more good news for the jungle trekker that should help relieve the fear:
- You’re on the snake’s home patch and it knows how to quickly get out of your path, disappearing into the jungle before you even get near, sensing the vibrations from your footfalls long before you get close.
- These snakes (the cobras, kraits and coral snakes) are terrestrial and rarely climb into the trees – so once you’re snug in your hammock at night, there is very little chance of one of these snakes crawling in there with you.
- If you get too close to a cobra it will, very thoughtfully, rear up and spread its hood, making it easy to spot; giving you fair warning that it’s there and not to approach closer.
- The deadly krait has a small mouth and fangs, so is highly unlikely to be able to penetrate boots or thick clothing… and the coral snake’s mouth is even smaller.
- The spitting cobras venom is not going to blind you if it gets in your eyes as long as you wash it out carefully and thoroughly.
- Often the cobras will give you a warning bite first (i.e. a dry bite) and will only give a bite (or repeated bites) with significant amounts of venom if you don’t get the message to leave it alone.
- None of these snakes are ambush hunters (unlike the vipers and pythons) so they are far less likely to be found curled up on trails waiting for their prey and will get out of your way if they have a chance to do so (unlike the vipers).
- As far as the snake is concerned, its venom is precious stuff that it wants to save for hunting; so it doesn’t want to waste it on a human (who is obviously too large for it to eat) unless it absolutely has to.
So, bearing all the above in mind, how on earth do people manage to get bitten by these snakes?
- People pick up snakes. Take the case of Joe Slowinski who put his hand into a bag containing a banded krait (believing it to be a wolf snake) and died as a result. Snake charmers and the like play with snakes and often get bitten. Children may play with snakes and pick them up.
- People can mistake a venomous snake for a non-venomous one. The juvenile King Cobra can be mistaken for the far less dangerous mangrove cat snake, the harmless wolf snake looks similar to the deadly Malayan banded krait… even for experts it’s easy for mistaken identification to be made, so the golden rule for the jungle trekker is don’t pick any snake up and treat all snakes as being possibly venomous.
- Snakes may become aggressive if they feel trapped. This is more of a problem when snakes enter the house and can’t find a way out. In the jungle they are spoilt for choice in terms of escape routes and will simply get out of your way if they can.
- King Cobras will defend a nest and, if you get too close, they will try and make you go back…possibly becoming aggressive if you’re slow to pick up the message.
- Snakes may make a home in your rucksack or boots when they are left out overnight (so close bags securely and suspend them above ground and check shoes before you put them on).
- Trekkers may not be wearing footwear that offers sufficient protection against snake bite and sometimes go barefoot around camp (I confess I am sometimes guilty of doing this!)
- Jungle trekkers who answer a call of nature in the middle of the night without bothering to check around with a torch for snakes in the area.
- Jungle trekkers may (by accident) disturb a sleeping snake when collecting firewood. For this reason it is a good idea to give logs a kick before picking them up, wear gloves and/or use your parang (rather than your hands) for pulling dead branches down from trees.
While filming these neurotoxic snakes at Zoo Negara and at Batu Caves I was struck by the fact these snakes are really not aggressive and their behaviour a far cry from what Hollywood would have us believe (or for that matter quite a few ‘nature/survival’ programmes). Even with a camera stuck in their face and someone pulling their tails, most of the cobras were reluctant to even raise up and slithered away at the very first possible opportunity.
If you stay alert in the jungle, wear some basic protective clothing, use common sense and, above all, avoid the temptation to pick up or antagonize any snakes you come across, then it is very unlikely that you will have a problem with a cobra, krait or coral snake.
The reality is that for someone to get bitten by one of these snakes in the jungle would require them to be either extremely unlucky, walking around with their eyes wide shut or simply lacking in common sense….
But then, as my friend Peter Bailey used to say, “the problem with common sense is it ain’t that bleedin’ common”
Snakes! Part Deux….Job well done! I love the ‘Spectacle cobra i.e. naja naja, in the basket’ intro….
Looing forward to Snakes! Part Trois….
Hi Dr Khal,
Many thanks for the comment and the cobra-in-a-basket is the only one I really feel comfortable handling!
Part 3 coming soon…
Cheers!
Paul
Dear Paul,
Just a small note and clarification to the video conversation.
The cobra and krait species mentioned are indigenous to Peninsular Malaysia. However the Malayan krait, Bungarus candidus and the Monoceled cobra, Naja kaouthia are not indeginous to Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak).
Cheers!
Hi Dr Khal,
May thanks for the clarification – I did say that these are venomous snakes of ‘Peninsular’ Malaysia but it is worth clarifying further as some may not be familiar with the geography of Malaysia – so thanks for the comment (and, of course, for all your help and expertise with the videos!)
Cheers!
Paul
Dr Khal good info and all the best
It was a pleasure Mogan.
Thank you and all the best to you too.
Be safe!
Hi there, I live in Singapore and we have most of the same snake species here. One of the more common ones seen is the equitorial spitting cobra, Naja sumatrana. This was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Indian cobra: Naja naja sutatrix but the taxonomy has changed a lot and now a lot more cobra species are recognised. For a description of them google: naja sumatrana systematics bangor
Anyway those black cobras are quite commonly seen here and are found in parks and gardens close to humans. I have never seen them spit. They always flee and hide once they notice humans. They may rear up and spread the hood as a threat display but that’s about it. I think I remember reading of a pet dog that got blinded or killed by one when it attacked it but I have never heard of any humans here being killed by one, or even bitten by one. The body is plain black but on the underside of the spread hood there are white markings that look like a segmented wheel. Here is a video of a small one I saw beside a path:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRJhRVLFMo0
King cobras are less often seen but a population of them seems to live around a golf course in the centre of the island near a forest nature reserve. Never heard of any cases of people getting bitten by one.
Other Elapid snakes found here are the kraits and several species of coral snakes. One of them, the Blue Malayan coral snake, is suspected of causing the death of a man who was bitten on the foot in his bathroom in 1985. That is the only death from snakebite in this country that I can remember:
http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19850925-1.2.22.21
http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19851020-1.2.9.7
Hi Beng Tang.
Many thanks for another extremely informative comment and your experiences match my own – we have black cobras in our garden and come across the every so often but it’s not been a problem as they just get out of your way. The only time it’s been difficult is if they come into the car park area where they aren’t familiar with an escape route and seem to panic a bit and not know where to go. Also, the dogs will sniff them out if they come too close and that can also be a problem as they get cornered by the dogs and panic. These are the black spitting cobras and I have seen them spit (with remarkable accuracy) – although they seem to have no desire to get in your way, they are quite aggressive when cornered.
But the overall point you make (that snake bites are extremely rare) is well worth emphasising. Added to that, if people are wearing clothing that offers some protection (particularly boots) this helps a lot and I heard anecdotal evidence that bites amongst plantation workers dropped significantly once they started wearing rubber boots.
Anyway, thanks again for all the information and comments,
Cheers!
Paul
I have only just discovered your interesting pages and would like to make a comment about a death that occurred in Singapore from a snakebite. This was from the bite of a rear fanged snake, one of the Keelback group,
This was the Red Necked Keelback, Rhabdophis submineatis. In the book Photographic guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia, Cox et al. The latest edition (2010) states that the snake should be considered dangerous, yet goes on to say no fatalities have been reported. However the incident I am aware of was reported in the Singapore Medical Journal, 2000, vol. 41. (1) The article was entitled, Morbidity after a bite from a “non-venomous” pet snake. The victim was a young man who apparently was sold a Red-necked keelback by a Singapore pet shop and was told it was a harmless pet snake. He was unfortunately bitten and died later.
Many thanks for your time and the efforts you have gone to in order, not to demonize venomous snakes. Something I really believe in.
Hi James,
Many thanks for the comment and interesting account of the red necked snake. I’ve not seen one of those here but only yesterday we had a red headed coral snake in the garden (I took a short video of it which I’ll post in the next video) – – I may be wrong but I think the coral snake is front fanged and those with rear fangs need to bite and chew for some time to get the venom in. Even with the coral snakes their mouths are so small that I think it would be difficult for them to penetrate through any thickish trouser material (but I’ve never experimented with this!). I imagine that with these small (and harmless looking) venomous snakes the problem is often a result of people handling them although I have also read that in India people sometimes get bitten by kraits during the night in the villages as they sleep on the ground and the snake cuddles up for warmth and then bites the sleeping person when they roll over in their sleep (apparently the bite is so gentle that often the victim doesn’t even wake up or realise they’ve been bitten).
But in almost all cases snakes are happy to leave you alone (I once had red headed coral snake slither between my feet without even looking up at me as it went past!) and are kind enough to get out of our way as we barge through the jungle (the exception being the very stubborn vipers who refuse to budge!).
Anyway, thanks again for the comment and support,
Cheers!
Paul