captain’s wood snake

rocksea — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:13:11 +0000

We discovered this snake from under the ground while digging, the same time when this species was being named. That is, it was not known that such a species existed, taxonomically. It was in 2007 that we first found it, and it was the same year that David Gower and Jasmin Winkler from the Natural History Museum, London, published about the new species in a scientific journal.

Now, that may sound like that this is a very rare snake. No! Though this snake is endemic [native and confined to a region] to the low altitudes of the southwest Western Ghats region, it is common locally and may be of “least concern”. However, the reason that it didn’t even have a name of its own until recent, should be of a “grave concern”. It means that zoological research in the country may not have gained much momentum, at least like it was in the british days. Or why did this local species need the british community once again, to find it, study it, and name it properly?

There are obviously many more species to be discovered, named and studied. Such a process can eventually help in conservation of that particular species, and also the natural balance of the environment.

A few months after we found it out, we had posted an article on this snake, which was unidentified then [link: nature, bounded and bonded]. Since we had found the snake on 2 different days, both times while digging in the garden, we had mentioned that it might be a common but rarely observed snake.

“captain’s wood snake”
There is another interesting twist to the story. When we found the snake, we had cross checked books and online articles on snakes. None of those sources talked about this rarely studied group. Then we emailed the photographs to Ashok Captain, whose contributions to the knowledge of Indian snakes are remarkable. Probably the email never reached him, and we didn’t have a chance to know further about the snake. Recently we emailed the snake photographs to some other zoologists and specialists and one of them, Dr. K. P. Dinesh of Zoological Survey of India, correctly identified the family of the snake as Xylophis. Once the family was found, a google search led me to the recent paper by David Gower, which zoomed in on the species we had! Now, the funny side of the story is that, this snake was named by the authors as xylophis captaini or the captain’s wood snake, in recognition of the contributions by Ashok Captain!!

The captain’s wood snake, often burrows under loose or moist earth. It is a great jumper too. Apart from these observations, we found that it plays dead to avoid any attention, as a strategy for survival! In our previous articles we had talked about the signature spiders and the red whiskered bulbuls feigning death as a survival technique. Nature and the life it holds, are far intelligent, impressive, and exciting than we think

Date: Dec 2007
Location: @ home, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Camera: Nikon D80 + Tamron SP AF90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens

Reference:
Gower, D.J. and J.D. Winkler, 2007: Taxonomy of The Indian snake Xylophis Beddome (Serpentes: Caenophidia), with description of a new species. Hamadryad, 31, 2, 315-329 [link: pdf].

the elusive frogmouth and the cup fungi

rocksea — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:41:34 +0000

Ceylon Frogmouth, Batrachostomus moniliger, also known as Sri Lanka Frogmouth, at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad. Male and Female.

The Ceylon Frogmouths are nocturnal in nature, and are found in the Western Ghats of India and in Sri Lanka. Their elusive nature kept their existence under the veil of the dense tropical forests for a long time until Dr. Salim Ali found it at the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary (which has since been named after him) in circa 1930. Later it was rediscovered in circa 1990 by ornithologist K. V. Eldhose, at the same sanctuary. Its occurrence, ethology, nesting, etc. have been documented since. The bird is still elusive, due to its adherence to roosting on surroundings with dried leaves which resembles its color tone and camouflages it well.

My first sighting of the Frogmouth was in December 1999, when the nature group Warblers & Waders organized a bird survey at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad and the near by regions including Bhoothathankettu and Idamalayar. The first night we listened to the exchange of the distinctive calls between the male and the female (which could be easily recorded and mimicked) and we saw one of them at a different location later. The excitement was so much that time, and I took a low resolution photograph of that sighting, but one could never identify a bird in it, because it was camouflaged so perfectly!

The frogmouth pictured above is my second sighting, along with Sarah, in September 2007. The location is adjacent to the watch tower inside the sanctuary.

Tiny, wine glass shaped, Cup Fungi, cookeina sulcipes of the Family Sarcoscyphaceae, against a dark background, at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad. These cup fungi were located near to the place where we found the ceylon frogmouths in the birds section. Vividly colored in deep red-orange, with a pinkish tone. In these two images you can see the fungi gleaming through the dark.

Sarah capturing the Cup Fungi.

These Cup Fungi are not rare, we have often found them on wet logs around our house premises.

Cup Fungi @ home

Date: 27 Sept 2007
Location: @ Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad and @ home, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Camera: Nikon D80 + Tamron SP AF90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens

rocksea and sarah » western ghats

captain’s wood snake

the elusive frogmouth and the cup fungi