Krait snake: description, habitat, lifestyle, nutrition, photo

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

There are many dangerous animals on the planet Earth, among which snakes stand out. They are poisonous and dangerous, beautiful, scary and very different in size. They live in all corners of the earth, and a meeting with some of them can even end a human life.

This species of reptile lives on absolutely all continents (including large and small islands), except for Antarctica. Among a large number of species, there is also a poisonous krait snake (photo attached), about which the article provides more detailed information.

List of the most venomous snakes on Earth

1. The inland taipan has the most toxic poison. Approximately 80 people a year die from his bites, from which even a special serum often does not save. This reptile lives in Australia.
2. The brown reticulated snake (belongs to asps) is the second most dangerous after the taipan. The harlequin asp, which lives in the United States, is especially poisonous. After being attacked and bitten by this snake, a person maydie within a day without timely medical assistance.
3. The black mamba, common in Africa, reaches a length of up to three meters. This aggressive snake attacks at the slightest opportunity and bites instantly.
4. The Krait snake, which lives in Australia and Asia, is aggressive and dangerous to human life. More details about it are given later in the article.
5. The rattlesnake, which has a wide habitat, differs from its relatives in the special structure of the tail and skull. When danger arises, it begins to create a characteristic noise, vibrating a process at the tip of its tail.
6. The common viper is found in Asia and Europe. Toxin, depending on the reaction of the human body, acts in different ways. People can remain disabled after a bite, but there are also fatal outcomes. The length of the viper is about 50 cm, and the color of the scales can be different, depending on the area where the individual lives.

Tiger snake, sand efa, king cobra, hook-nosed sea snake, etc. are all dangerous snakes that can kill a person.

Description of the Krait snake

The most venomous and dangerous snakes can look quite harmless, and there are even beautiful ones among them. These include kraits. This genus contains 12 varieties. The yellow-headed krait is considered the most poisonous among them. He has small teeth, but in places where people have to wear light clothes, this is a dubious advantage.

The snake has a striped color: transverse and equal in thickness stripes of white(or any light) and dark blue (or black) shades. On average, the length of a relatively small snake is 1.5-2 meters. The largest varieties are about 2.5 meters long. The head of the venomous krait snake is bluntly rounded, the interception of the neck is weakly expressed. The slender body ends with an unusual short tail. A keel of larger hexagonal scales runs along the ridge of the snake, and therefore the body of kraits in cross section is obtusely triangular.

Classification

Species of the genus Krayt:

• Andaman Krait (Bungarus andamanensis);
• krait cantor (Bungarus bungaroides);
• Malay krait (Bungarus candidus);
• Indian krait (Bungarus caeruleus);
• Ceylon krait (Bungarus ceylonicus);
• lead krait (Bungarus lividus);
• tape edge (Bungarus fasciatus);
• yellow-headed krait (Bungarus flaviceps);
• black edge (Bungarus niger);
• large-spotted krait (Bungarus magnimaculatus);
• South China krait (Bungarus multicinctus);
• Bungarus sindanus.

The most common species is the pama (ribbon krait) found in India, Burma and southern China. The most dangerous of this kind is the yellow-headed krait (noted above), which has small teeth, but has the most deadly poison.

Habitats and lifestyles

There are krait (Bungar) snakes in India, the Andaman Islands, Sri Lanka, Pakistan. They live in Southeast Asia (including the islands of the Malay Archipelago) and in Australia. They prefer dry places with shelters, and there are even cases of penetration into people's homes.

They are active mainly at dusk and at night. The diet of snakes includes small mammals, lizards, amphibians and snakes. A single dose of poison krait can kill about 10 people. If you ask any reptile specialist to name the ten most dangerous poisonous snakes on Earth, he will definitely name the krait. All varieties of this genus are oviparous. Protect the laying of the female until the very hatching of the offspring.

About poison and poison apparatus

As noted above, the venomous teeth of krait snakes are rather short. There are 3 more teeth behind them in the upper jaw, but they are not poisonous.

The venom of this species of snakes has a strong neurotoxic effect, which is associated with the presence of postsynaptic toxins (or α-bungarotoxins) and presynaptic toxins (or β-bungarotoxins) in it. They are absent in the venom of the variety Bungarus fasciatus. The venom of the banded krait contains a cardiotoxin not found in other species.

Apparently, their venom contains a toxic peptide. The latter, when it enters the bloodstream or in the most severe poisoning, has the ability to pass the blood-brain barrier and thus has a direct toxic effect on the brain. In this case, death occurs very quickly without any paralytic symptoms. In addition, the venom of krait snakes containsphospholipase A2, dipeptidase and acetylcholinesterase (characteristic of snake snakes).

Snakes in Bali

In Indonesia, there are many snakes, some of which are poisonous. Bali is no exception. Several varieties of venomous snakes live on this island, including one marine and 5 terrestrial. Krait snakes in Bali (for example, in Canggu) are also found. Among them are both marine and terrestrial varieties. It should be noted that in places with a lot of green vegetation there is a high probability of meeting this dangerous animal.

The varieties of kraits in these areas are black and blue and gray. They are about one meter long. The krait snake in the ocean is also a fairly common phenomenon. This applies to the striped look. Water kraits (Banded sea krait) are very dangerous snakes in Bali.

Final advice

It should be noted that the seeming helplessness of the Bungar during daylight hours is deceptive. One zoologist named Zdenek Vogel, after repeated observations, noted how Vietnamese children mocked this snake in broad daylight (beating, pricking) and it did not bite them. But when he himself picked up the reptile by the tail, deciding to test its peacefulness, it instantly twisted and hurt his finger before he threw it away. The zoologist was sick for about three days after that.

When meeting with this dangerous animal, you should move away from him. In the daytime, kraits are quite lazy, so they are unlikely to follow a person. The main one ismaximum caution - do not approach reptiles at close range.

Knowing that there are kraits in the area, you should try to wear thicker clothes. As noted above, these snakes have very small poisonous teeth, so tight and thick clothing may well prevent a dangerous snake bite (it will not bite through it).