Order: Squamata

Family: Elapidae

 

Size: up to 91.4-179.8 cm in length.

 

Key Features: The head is flat and the neck hardly evident. The body is cylindrical, tapering towards the tail. The tail is short and rounded. The eyes are rather small, with rounded pupils, indistinguishable in life. Colouration is generally black or bluish black, with about 40 thin, white crossbars which may be indistinct or absent anteriorly. A white preocular spot may be present; the upper lips and the belly are white.

 

Diet: Feeds on almost all kind of snakes including own species and other venomous or non-venomous snakes. Other animals include lizards, frogs, toads and rodents.

 

Habitat: Lives in variety of habitat including hills and plains; dense & open forests, agricultural lands, dense vegetation, old trees, caves, places having water bodies and mounds both. Prefer wet surrounding for foraging.

 

Habits: Often found inside and near human settlements and get a strange place for hiding places in narrow places. Mostly shows terrestrial activity but climbs well when needed in search of prey and shelter. Defensive during the day time while becomes aggressive at night in search of prey. If disturbed during the day time, it coil itself like a ball and hide its head under the coil while at night it try to escape and search dark places to hide from enemy.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Gopalakrishnakone, Chou, P, LM (1990). Snakes of Medical Importance (Asia-Pacific Region). Singapore: Venom and Toxin Research Group National University of Singapore and International Society on Toxinology (Asia-Pacific section). pp. 284–285. ISBN 9971-62-217-3.

 

Bungarus caeruleus. In IndianSnakes.org , Retrieved on July 11, 2014 from http://www.indiansnakes.org/content/common-krait

 

Photo Courtesy

Jayendra Chiplunkar, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons