Snakes alive!
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 13 Oct 2013 12:50
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New Caledonia is justifiably famous in circles of
right-thinking people for its seasnakes, of which there are uncountable
thousands. Zoologically speaking these are sea kraits, snakes which have not
entirely lost the ability to move on land and can therefore operate amphibiously
(to move on land a snake needs ventral scales, large rectangular scales in a
single row along the length of its underside which are used to grip
the substrate and moved using its ribs). The other group of seasnakes
has lost these scales and is entirely aquatic. Kraits are extremely poisonous
and inject a very fast acting nerve poison - they feed underwater on eels
and it is essential that their prey dies quickly so that it can neither escape
nor bite its attacker. Luckily they are passive as far as humans are
concerned and very rarely bite - so rarely that it is not even certain how
badly their venom affects us. There are some anecdotal reports of children
suffering fatal bites, but no modern deaths substantiated - so
far.
Here in New Caledonia there are two species - the
endemic yellow banded Laticauda saintgironis and the blue banded L.
laticaudata (another Pacific animal rather incredibly first described by
Linnaeus). They are very strongly attached to their place of birth, normally a
small coral island, and although they will forage for an amazing 30-40km through
the lagoon they return to their home island to digest, to slough their skins,
mate and lay eggs. And they are present in large numbers - eg. 1500 on one 6ha
islet. This means that there is a constant traffic of snakes from the sea to
island and back again, across the beaches. Here is the yellow banded on its way
up the beach (sorry about the shadows - yet another bright sunny
day):
 This snake is about 1m long; another one just like
it went between my legs as I was sitting at a bench. I didn't see it at all
until it suddenly appeared on the other side. Even knowing that they're
(probably) harmless it still caused a stir, partiularly since I've seen the
speed they can move if they want to. I wouldn't like to try to outrun
one. And you have to be careful where you tread, everywhere, because
they're lying around all over the place. These animals are brightly coloured
like a wasp, for the same reason. But it is amazing how they blend into the
background - even when lying across an island path
And here is a blue banded heading back into the
water:
 As you can see, a very similar animal and equally
beautiful. And unlike in Britain, these animals are accepted by the locals. They
are able to go about their business utterly unharmed - they're rightly regarded
as an attraction.
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