Reearchers trace Mock Viper in Simlipal

Baripada, Jun 18 (UNI) Researchers have recently traced the presence of a mildly venomenous snake called 'Mock Viper' (Psammodynastes puluerutentus) in the Upper-Barha-Kamuda (UBK) range of the Simlipal forest.

The reptile's known habitats were in the Eastern Himalayas and Arunachal Pradesh.

They were also found in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and parts of South-East Asia, Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR) official sources here today said.

The reptile was for the first time captured in the camera of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) researcher Subham Dutta and identified by STR Deputy Director Manoj V.Nair.

It has a viper-like head, distinctly broader than neck, large eyes with vertically elliptical pupils and the body colour varying from yellowish to grayish black and glossy underside.

The snake, sources said, was active in low bushes and in the ground both during day and night. The maximum length of the snake could be thirty inches (77 cm) and it feeds on skinks, lizards and frogs.

The WII researcher's camera trapped the snake during headcounting of the Great Cat with the camera-trap methodology that concluded inside the STR recently. Mr Dutta, a member of the WII researcher team who was engaged in headcounting operation in Simlipal, sources added.

Among other interesting small denizens of the forest trapped in the researcher's cameras were the Honey Badger ratel whom the locals call as ''Gada-Bhalu'', White-banded palm civet and Ruddy mongoose.

UNI