MANGALORE Nov 17, 2007: It is a recycled project for Pilikula Nisarga Dhama. The King Cobra captive breeding centre at the Dhama is making a come back again after unsuccessfully running it for a brief period in 2004.

It could be recalled here that the Centre was launched with a great hopes of achieving a total progeny improvement programme of the King Cobra under the guidance of the international herpetologist Dr. Romulus Whittaker. The then Deputy Commissioner Aravind Shrivastava who also happened to be the president of the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama Society (PNDS) had encouraged Mr. Whittakar with a fond hope of something good coming out of the experiment.



But due to some snags in the captive breeding pattern employed by the Nisarga Dhama one of the female King Cobra named Rani died even before she could deliver the full compliment of eggs. She had passed only 15 eggs while 35 more were still within her when she died. Usually the female King Cobras do not give more than 20 eggs per season, but due to induced breeding Rani had suffered.

There is nothing as captive breeding for King Cobras atleast in Westen Ghats as they are endemic to region. There is no need for breeding centre for this species as they breed effortlessly in the Western Ghats as well as in the foothills of the Western Ghats.



Ravindranath Aithal a local herpetologist of Puttur had already opposed the captive breeding of King Cobra. He points out that the King Cobras breed in the secure sites of heavily built Bamboo groves which are very common in the Western Ghats. They cannot breed or live in the artificial environment provided by the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama or anywhere else, he says.

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MANGALORE: In a bid to increase the tribe of endangered king cobras, the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi, has asked the city-based biological park to breed the venomous reptile in captivity.

Dr. Shivaram Karanth of Pilikula Nisargadhama (Biological Park) at Moodushedde near here has already started the preliminary work to take up captive breeding of Ophiophagus Hannah.

Importantly, this would be a totally in-house effort. H. Jayaprakash Bhandary, Director of the Park told The Hindu here that the Park here has five king cobras, including two females, at present. It had released two of them into the wild recently.

“We need to create a special environment for the king cobras to breed including keeping the pair selected in isolation. king cobras normally breed during December and we will set up necessary conditions with the help and expertise of our Park staff in this regard.”

The then Deputy Commissioner, Arvind Shrivastava, had exchanged documents on the memorandum of understanding with herpetologist Romolus Whittaker on February 15, 2004 to start India’s first scientific captive breeding centre for king cobras at the Park. However, it was never implemented for various reasons. “It is only of late that the Authority on its own accorded permission to start the activity,” Mr. Bhandary says.

On reasons for the Authority to select the Park, Mr. Bhandary says king cobras are commonly found in the Western Ghat region and efforts to breed them here at the Park, which falls in the foot of the Ghats, was expected to yield positive results.

The purpose is to conserve the species and to aid their lateral spread, he adds. This would also help the zoological parks in the country to procure them without disturbing their habitat, he notes.

The Central Zoo Authority has selected a few leading zoos across India to take up captive breeding of endangered species.

“A zoo in north India has been permitted to breed Snow Bear just as they have allowed us to breed king cobras,” said Mr. Bhandary.

caption: A BIG CATCH: A professional snake catcher, with a 16- feet long king cobra which he presented to Dr. Shivrama Karanth Biological Park.


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