Snake charms

摘要

The forests of Agumbe in Karnataka are the wettest and thickest in South India, and excellent snake habitat. I was walking along a forest path looking for subjects to study when I saw a black snake tail disappear into some bushes. Rat snake! I thought, and without a moment's hesitation dived for it, bruising knees and elbows as my fingers wrapped around its smooth skin. Just as I was about to pull the snake closer, a deep growl emanated from the bushes. Weird. I looked up and towering above me was aking cobra, its golden hood afire in the evening light and its eyes pinned on me. Lying flat on my belly, I was the one caught. Its tail fell from my paralysed fingers. But instead of attacking me, the cobra streaked away through the undergrowth. The scientist in me came to his senses and I raced after the fleeing serpent, seizing a stick on the way. When I grabbed its tail a second time, the cobra swung around and charged at me open-mouthed. Using the stick to keep the aggravated snake at bay, I managed, one-handed, to pull my sleeping bag out of my rucksack and prop it open. The cobra saw the dark hole as an escape route and slid inside. This was my very first encounter with a wild king cobra and I can still feel that adrenalin rush after 30 years of studying them.