Snakes: The Often Misunderstood Heroes of Our Ecosystem

ANUP SALOI

On a monsoon evening when the clouds gathered over Assam’s rice fields, a farmer witnessed a snake gliding through the rice saplings silently. He panicked and went far away for some time. Being panic is our usual response when we notice such deadly creatures. But what if the snake is actually protecting us? The rodents, hidden inside their holes that would otherwise damage our crops, become the prey of these mysterious creatures. This reminds us that one of the most feared creatures is also a good friend of the farmers, indirectly us.

Picture of the king of snakes, King Cobra ; Source- Internet

As humans, we scared of snakes a lot. This is due to the mix of evolutionary survival instinct, our cultural conditioning and rapid movement of the creature. Our Ancestors evolved to spot these deadly creatures quickly to avoid venomous bites. The unpredictable, zig-zag movements and lack of limbs trigger the brain’s defense mechanism and alerts us even if it is a harmless species. Various Anthropological studies suggest that humans have evolved highly advanced visual systems specifically to detect a camouflaged snake quickly as it is a matter of life or death.

What is a Snake?

Snakes are animals belonging to Reptilia class of Chordata phylum. These are limbless, elongated animals with cylindrical body with rough scales all over the body. There are approximately 4,000 recognized species of snakes found all over the world. Among them, over 80 documented species of snakes are found in Assam. Snakes are of two types- “Venomous and Non-venomous snakes”.

Some venomous snakes found in Assam are, King Cobra, Common Krait, Banded Krait, Russell’s Viper etc. and some non-venomous snakes are, Burmese Python, Reticulated Python, Oriental Rat-snake etc. Snakes have a highly flexible skull with un-fused lower jaw bones, allowing them to swallow prey much larger than their heads. Snakes lack eyelids and external ears. They hear via ground vibrations and smell via their splited tongue. Snakes have evolved to live in every major environment from deserts to rainforests, deep oceans and holes, near human settlements etc.

Climate Change and the Silent Struggle of Small Creatures

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Snakes are the unsung heroes of pest control, by hunting on rodents like rats, mice etc., they prevent massive crop losses, spread of dangerous diseases by rodents, reduce the need for expensive chemical pesticides. They are the nature’s effective pest control systems. A single snake consumes about 50 to 150 rodents per year, that is approx. 1,000 to 3,000 rodents in its lifespan. These rodents consumes and contaminates a significant amount of global crop harvests each year.

By eliminating these agricultural pests, snakes are directly helping the farmers. Snakes act both as prey and predator for various animals and play important role in ecosystem balance and maintenance. Removing them will disrupt the balance of our ecosystem, which can lead to overpopulation of pests and habitat degradation. Snakes are helping in stabilizing food prices and food security by controlling the pest population effectively.

The Myths v/s Reality:

Snakes have been a part of our folklores for centuries. But centuries of storytelling have yielded various misunderstandings about these interesting nature’s marvels. There are various myths about these beautiful creatures. This is probably due to their unique body shape and camouflaging colours. Some of the myths are –

1. All Snakes are Poisonous: Many people thinks that all snakes are poisonous, but this is not true. If we look at the definitions, poisonous animals means the animals that are toxic when touched, ingested or inhaled. Venomous animals means they inject toxins into another animal through bite or sting. This is the main difference, venom has to come in contact with blood to kill an animal or human. Not all snakes are venomous. There are more than 4,000 species of snakes found worldwide and around 600 of these are venomous. Out of the venomous snakes, around 200 have toxins strong enough to hurt humans.
2. Snakes are very aggressive and dangerous: Most snake species are  not aggressive; they act only in defense. Not all snakes are apex predators. Most of them have a position right in the middle of the food web. As snakes are also prey to raptors (a bird that hunts and feeds on other animals like snakes such as eagle, hawk, owl etc.) and other carnivores, they must be able to protect themselves. Most of these reptiles would prefer to hide and avoid confrontation, unless they are disturbed.

1. Snakes have no bones: It is normal to think this, considering the flexibility of their body and zig-zag motion. But in reality, snakes has a sophisticated skeleton with upto 400 bones- more than a human, in fact most of these bones are vertebrae and ribs; snakes have a very long spine that goes almost the entire length of their body.
2. Snakes are slimy and cold: This is not true, peoples who have touched a snake generally describes it as dry, soft, smooth and slightly cool to touch.

Snakes Drinks milk: Many people believes that snakes do drink milk and they provide milk to snakes in religious events like nag-panchami, shiv-puja etc. But as reptiles, snakes can’t digest milk.

Snake is forced to drink milk

1. In some traditional practices, dehydrated, starving snakes are given milk which they may only drink due to desperate thirst, which can ultimately be lethal to the snake.
2. Snakes will take revenge by killing you if you kill one of their partner : This concept is also totally wrong and cinematic because snakes lack a complex brain to express emotions like empathy or revenge. But this case maybe also useful in snake conservation as people will fear out to kill a snake thinking its partner will take revenge.
3. Snakes are useless creatures: Snakes play an important role both as predator and prey in our ecosystem, controlling prey population like rats, mice etc.
4. In Assam, there is another belief about the Red Sand Boa (Eryx johnii) snake that this snake has two heads and eats by one mouth for 6 months and another for 6 months. But this is a pure myth, the tail of this snake is blunt, rounded that mimics the shape of its head to confuse its predators. Also it is a non-venomous snake and do not have any second mouth.

Red Sand Boa is believed to have two heads

1. “Gui Saap” (Monitor Lizard)s are also believed to be associated with the mythical “Bira” which is a household spirit that can cause illness or invites bad-luck. But in reality this is a beautiful lizard and a very good pest controller.
2.  In rural Assam, it is widely believed that the “Guala” snake sneaks into cattle sheds at night to wrap around the legs of cows and drinks milk. In reality, these snakes can’t digest milk and they are entirely carnivorous and survives by eating rodents, frogs and other small reptiles. They enter the shed only in search of their prey or shelter.

How snake venom works:

Snake venom is a mixture of special enzymes, proteins and other substances that spreads through the bloodstream in our body. Snake venoms are of different kinds-

• Neurotoxins: These are toxins that disrupts chemical signals of our body by blocking the signal receptors. In humans, this type of venom can cause muscle weakness, paralysis, lung failure etc. Found in snakes like cobras, coral snakes etc.
• Hemotoxins: These toxins act on blood or Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and trigger uncontrollable clotting of blood and destroys RBCs causing severe internal bleeding and shock. These kinds of venoms are found in the common vipers like Rattlesnakes, Puff adders etc.
• Cytotoxins: These are toxins that act on the tissues at the biting site and causes swelling, severe pain and tissue death. This can result in loss of a limb in worst case scenarios.
• Myotoxins: This type of venom acts on muscle fibers and destroys them including heart muscles, resulting in heart failure, muscle weakness, cardiac distress etc.

(Snakes only bite when provoked or disturbed. Unless disturbed, they are very shy animals that avoid human confrontation)

How to identify a venomous snake from a non-venomous snake:

There are several scientific methods in which we can tell if a snake is venomous or not by just observing it from far. Some of these methods are-

• In venomous snakes, often the head shape is broader, triangular or wedge-shaped, so that they can bear venom glands inside their heads. But the head of a non-venomous snake is narrow, round or oval-shaped.
• Venomous snakes usually possess vertical, slit-like pupils. On the other hand, non-venomous snakes possess round pupils.
• Many venomous species like the pit vipers have a visible pit on their face below the eyes. But in non-venomous snakes, pits are absent.
• The scales of venomous snakes are smaller in size and has a ridge down the center that gives them a rougher look. In case of non-venomous snakes, the scales are larger in size, smoother and looks more polished compared to venomous snakes.
• Venomous snakes typically has a thicker and shorter tail which is thinner and longer and more tapered in non-venomous snakes.
• In venomous snakes, fangs are present which are long, tubular poison teeth exposed only when the snake is angry and about to bite.

Fig. showing difference between venomous and non-venomous snakes

How climate change is affecting these wonderful creatures:

Climate change has become one of the threats to snakes due to habitat loss, deforestation, urbanization etc. Changing climate is altering snake-human-environmental relations greatly. Warmer temperature, habitat loss, lack of rainfall and prey due to habitat shrinking is driving them near human settlements, agricultural lands, fields etc. in search of food, damp and cool shelters etc. This kind of displacement increases snake-human conflicts, mortality rate, road accidents etc. As reptiles, snakes has a range of tolerance for environmental temperature, which is being affected by the rising global warming day by day. When environmental temperature gets raised above their range of tolerance, snakes die off.

            The complex interconnected effects of climate change on snakes include:

• Changing rainfall: Altered monsoon seasons and unpredictable rainfall is disrupting snakes metabolism and reproductive cycles. Increased rainfall can drive snakes out of their flooded burrows, which results in ultimately seeking shelter in human homes, storerooms etc. This is increasing the snake-human conflicts.
• Floods: Floods also forces snakes to migrate to densely crowded human villages, causing death of the snakes.
• Road mortality: This is becoming a huge problem nowadays, every monsoon I witness atleast one or two snakes run over by heavy vehicles on the road. This is due to the shrinking habitat that forces the snakes to migrate and the accidents happen.
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Human conflicts: When snakes came to human settlements in search of food or shelter, human- snake conflict increases. This significantly increases the risk of snake bites and death if not treated properly. Every year approximately 46,000 to 58,000 peoples die due to snake bites in India. In Assam, this is approximately 30 to 40 peoples per year.

Snake spotted inside human settlements

Why snake conservation matters:

Snakes as predators, feed on frogs, insects, rats, mice, and other rodents, helping to keep prey population under control. Snakes are also eaten by other species such as mongooses, wild boars, hawks, snake eagles, falcons and even some snake species. Thus plays an important role in maintaining the ecosystem balance.

The king cobra, eastern king snake, black-headed python, eastern indigo snake etc. are some of the species that feeds on snakes as their primary diet. Declining snake population not only affects these species but also effects across many trophic levels. A disrupted ecosystem in the context of climate change has an increased probability of natural disasters and has potential to cause massive loss of life and livelihood. The declining population of snakes has been documented all over the world.

Snakes facilitates secondary seed dispersal when they swallow rodents (who consumed seeds), the seeds are expelled through excretion into the environment in intact manner, thus seeds are dispersed in a larger area.

Snakes also play a role in disease prevention and provide benefits to communities that depend on agriculture. Rodents are carriers of many diseases, which affects humans, cattle, sheep, dogs and other domestic animals. By eating rodents, snakes keep the population of  rodents under control, thus preventing disease transmission and contributes to food security. An estimate says that over 200 millions of people can be fed by food grains that are destroyed by rodents ever year. Thus snakes offers natural, environmental-friendly and free service to mitigate against rodents, becoming “farmer’s true friends.”

Snakes are also a source of medicines. The only proven and effective therapy of snakebite, the snake-anti venom, is also derived from snake venoms. Many drugs derived from snake venoms are used clinically all over the world. However, the therapeutic potential of snake venoms remains unexplored till date. Many researchers continue to discover and investigate many other compounds that may beneficial for us.

Snakes play exceptionally important role in biodiversity conservation as both hunter and being hunted, thus maintain the flow of energy through various trophic levels. Many snake species are highly sensitive to habitat degradation and environmental changes. As a keystone species (i.e., many other species depends on snakes), snakes are vital part of our ecosystem. If snakes suddenly disappear from our ecosystem, many other species that depends on snakes would also be affected or may also disappear too.

Thus conservation of snakes becomes a very important topic to maintain healthy forests, healthy farms and overall a healthy ecosystem.

Snake venom is being collected by professionals

What we can do to save these incredible creatures:

Coexistence  begins with understanding these nature’s incredible creations and their importance to the ecosystem. There are some moral ethics or rules that we should follow to conserve these creatures:

• First of all, we’ve to show respect for snakes. We should avoid provoking, cornering or trying to handle or killing a snake as most snakes bite due to panic or attempt to handle them.
• Whenever a snake is seen inside our homes, store room or near human settlements, we should call a professional snake catcher as they knows exactly how to handle a snake properly.
• We should protect their natural habitats by not disturbing logs, rocks etc. We should avoid cutting trees, bamboo clumps etc. as snakes loves to hide in these cool and damp places in sunny days to maintain their body temperature.
• We should make local communities/villagers aware about these incredible creatures and their importance by educating them about snakes, teaching them about the myths and the reality. In many rural communities, snakes are killed on the spot as people believe that snakes are harmful to humans due to many myths and misconceptions. We should educate these communities about snakes, importance of snake conservation and not to kill snakes for fun.
• We should support local initiatives to conserve snakes, train atleast one person in every community about how to handle, catch and release snakes properly into the environment if spotted near human settlements.

The more local peoples will know about these beautiful creatures, the less they will fear about these and the more snake conservation will become possible.

As the sun sets in the west of the rice fields of Assam, a snake quietly moves through the grasses, unseen by peoples, it asks for nothing from us except the chance to live. In return it helps us control pests population that harms and destroys our crops. They just remind us that every species has a unique role in our ecosystem.

Our fear of snakes that becomes the main reason for us to kill a snake is often shaped by myths and stories rather than scientific evaluation. But today, we know that most snakes are harmless and that even venomous snakes bite only for their self-defense. The real danger is not the snakes themselves but the loss of their habitats, climate change, global warming, and the widespread misunderstandings that leads to the killing of snakes.

Conservation of snake is not only the protection of only one group of animal but also other animals that directly or indirectly depends on them and also our ecosystem’s balance and maintenance. Every snake conserved, every habitat preserved, every myth replaced with scientific evaluation will take us a step close towards a healthier and more balanced ecosystem.
Perhaps next time we see a snake, instead of reacting with fear and misunderstandings, we can pause a moment and remember that we are looking at nature’s one of the oldest, beautiful and incredible creations that is silently guarding our ecosystem, maintaining balance and a healthy relation with other animal species. We are also learning to respect the intricate web of life that is sustaining us for millions of years. The future of our ecosystem depends not only in conserving the species we admire, but also in protecting those we have long misunderstood but they has an unavoidable contribution to our ecosystem, to our planet.

References:

1. World Health Organization, Factsheet: Snakebite envenoming. 2021.
2. Coelho, C.M., et al., Are Humans Prepared to Detect, Fear, and Avoid Snakes? The Mismatch Between Laboratory and Ecological Evidence. Frontiers in psychology, 2019.
3. World Health Organization, Factsheet: Biodiversity and Health. 2025
4. Whitaker, R., & Captain, A. (2008). Snakes of india: The field guide.

Author Bio: Anup is a Nature/Wildlife enthusiast and Student at Department of Zoology under Bhattadev University, Bajali, Pathsala-781325

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