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Kenya: A Deadly New Cobra
Nairobi - A NEW GIANT SPECIES OF spitting cobra, which is about 9 feet long and has enough venom to kill up to 20 people in a single bite, has been discovered on the Kenyan coast.

The discovery brings to six the number of African spitting cobra species in the world.

 
The highly venomous snake has been named Naja Ashei after James Ashe who founded the Bio-Ken snake farm in Watamu where the reptile was discovered.

Effectively, Naja Ashei takes its position among the dozens of known cobra species, including the King Cobra, the longest snake in a natural habitat known to produce prodigious amounts of neurotoxin.

The discovery appears to resolve the status of the eastern and northeastern Africa species, which was the remaining puzzle in the systematics of the African spitting cobras, which were lumped into a single species in the 20th century, according to herpetologist Royjan Taylor, who manages the Bio-Ken snake farm.

Bio-Ken milks snakes for their venom and sends it to laboratories to develop antivenin. The new reptile produced 6.2 millilitres of liquid venom, which is among the largest amounts of venom ever extracted from a snake in a single milking.

THE GREATEST SIGNIFICAN-ce of the finding may be for residents along Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, at risk of being bitten by the new cobra.

It appears that doctors previously treating bites from what turned out to be Ashe's cobras were only administering half the necessary dose of antivenin to victims.

Previously, the aggressive reptile was identified as a brown-colored variant of the black-necked spitting cobra, though researchers had long suspected that it merited its own species.

For many years, Ashe suspected that the cobras along the Kenyan coast were different. The findings were finally verified through blood and tissue samples.

All cobras have potent venom and bites should be given medical attention at once. There are several cobra species that are able to spit their venom over a distance of several metres to defend themselves. The spray is aimed at the eyes of an aggressor and is so painful that the snake has a chance to escape.

Other variants of the black-necked spitting cobra fought harder when handled and took longer to settle down in captivity. Once in their cages, they were picky eaters.

BUT THE ASHE'S COBRA WAS less resistant to handling, generally less alert, and less picky. It is also bigger.

The snake dwells in the dry lowlands of northern and eastern Kenya, as well as in Uganda and Ethiopia. But the most common area the species is found is along the Kenyan coast.

Rapid development, mainly for tourism, is increasingly encroaching on the coastal habitat of snakes in East Africa. Snakes are often killed indiscriminately with no regard to their position in the food chain.

Taylor explained that although the new species is not listed as endangered, conservation efforts must be increased since the reptile is threatened by human activities and encroachment. Because of this discovery, he added, he would help develop anti-venom for Naja Ashei bites.

"More research needs to be done on their venom and its implication for snakebite treatment and anti-venom manufacture," said Taylor, whose contribution led to the new discovery.

The implications of this newly identified species go beyond scientific discovery. Snake bite treatment depends entirely on having the right anti-venom. Until now, bites from this snake have not been treated as effectively as possible due to inaccurate dosage. A specific anti-venom for this snake can now be produced and lives can be saved.

"Although cobras have the highest public profile among venomous snakes, our understanding of the taxonomy of the group has until recently remained woefully inadequate, particularly in terms of understanding the species limits within different well-differentiated groups," Dr Wolfgang Wuster of the University of Bangor in Wales said in an article published earlier this year in the scientific journal, Zootaxa, which he co-authored with Donald Bradley.

BUT AFTER OBSERVING MORphological variations between the brown and black cobras, the pair concluded that the "differences are indeed a result of the population being different evolutionary lineages.

According to Taylor, the paper's authors had asked him to wait several months to give time for other herpetologists to challenge their findings. None did.

Spitting cobras eat eggs, carrion, other snakes, lizards, and birds. Their venom has two uses: to kill prey and for defence. The reptiles can spray venom several yards and usually aim for the attacker's eyes, giving the snake the best. Experts have witnessed the new species successfully swallowing a rabbit, a two-and-half long foot monitor lizard and five-foot-long puff adder.

The new species of giant spitting cobra means that there have to be many other unreported species, but hundreds are being lost as their habitats disappear under the continued mismanagement of the planet, says to Dr Richard Leakey, chairman of Wildlife Direct.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200712181045.html
 

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