Komodo Dragons, Mongolian Horses and River Hippo arrive

Welcome to the Dehiwala Zoo

Last week the zoo was busy getting ready to welcome three new pairs of animals. They arrived last Thursday and were put in their ready-made enclosures so that visitors would be able to see them. Together with River Rhinos and Mongolian Wild Horses there was a pair of Komodo Dragons – first time residents at the
Dehiwala Zoo.

It was night when the special cargo plane C-130 Hercules belonging to the Sri Lanka Air Force landed safely at Katunayake last Thursday. The plane came from the Czech Republic. The plane had on board six, huge boxes with ‘live’ cargo. These craters had a pair of Komodo Dragons, a pair of Przewalski’s Wild Horses and River Hippopotamus.
The animals came directly from the Prague Zoo of the Czech Republic. The animals would have been tired after the journey as well as going through jet lag as they had to travel over 20 hours, barring two stopovers en route. A veterinary surgeon and some caretakers from the Prague Zoo accompanied the animals on their journey to Sri Lanka.
Once the documentation was completed at the airport, the animals were transferred to the Dehiwala Zoo, accompanied by staff of the zoo. It was reported that the animals were transported to the Dehiwala Zoo with the driver taking much care during the journey to ensure that the already tired animals will have a trouble free journey to Dehiwala. 
At the zoo, another group of workers and animal caretakers were anxiously waiting to welcome the newcomers. Their enclosures had been cleaned and prepared to receive the animals as they start their new life at the Dehiwala Zoo. A group of Young Zoologists’ Association (YZA) members too had been supportive once the animals arrived at the zoo. On arrival, the animals were found to be examining their new enclosures – similar to newcomers in a home.

Komodo Dragons
It is the first time in the history of the Dehiwala Zoo that it has welcomed Komodo dragons. Komodo dragons are found in Indonesia’s Komodo Island and some other nearby areas, hence its common English name. Dragons are gigantic and in legends, breathe fire, but these Komodos are like the over-sized local kabarayas or water monitors. But they have a voracious appetite – they eat much more than our kabaraya and sometimes lay in ambush to hunt. It is said the buffalo or deer would be the preferred diet of a grown Komodo dragon but they even eat carrions if opportunity strikes for an easy meal.
The Komodo dragon is special as it is the largest lizard that lives on earth. The yellow colour of the Komodo’s long, forked tongue reminds people of mythical dragons that spit fire according to legend. The tongue is special for them as it is used to taste the air to pick up the smell of the prey. It is recorded that they can pick up smell over a mile; so when there is a victim, the Komodo’s in the vicinity gather to feed on the carcass.
An adult dragon will hide along a trail and wait for an unsuspecting creature to walk by. Using its long claws and short, sharp teeth, the dragon will attack. If the prey manages to get away, the dragon will simply follow at a leisurely pace as a dragon’s bite contains deadly bacteria that will eventually kill its intended meal. The Komodo dragon is known to have 50 different types of toxic bacteria in their saliva that thrive on traces of flesh, causing bite-wounds to become quickly infected. Recent research however indicates that the real reason for such a high success rate in poisoning the prey could be due to the fact that the Komodo dragon may have a venom gland in its mouth.
In Komodo Islands, their habitats are been destroyed and they are pushed closer to human settlements. There are records the Komodo dragons have attacked humans as well. Even in captivity, they can be dangerous and there are records of attempted escapes. So in the Dehiwala Zoo, the Komodo dragon has an enclosure which is reinforced to the ground as well. Komodos are burrowing animals, so there would be a chance that they keep digging a tunnel under the enclosure so as to slip out.
To prevent this, a metal mesh has been fixed on the ground with sand placed on top of it. But it is better to keep your distance when you visit the zoo to have a closer encounter with these animals.
Class       : Reptilia
Order       : Squamata
Suborder  : Lacertilia
Family       : Varanidae
Genus       : Varanus
Species       :
Varanus komodoensis
IUCN threatened
category : Vulnerable

River Hippos

The Dehiwala Zoo has many Pigmy hippos that are smaller in size, but the River hippopotamus – a very larger cousin of the pigmy, died few years back. The female died attempting to give birth and the male died some time later. The hippo’s enclosure is near the new elephant arena that is being built in a corner of the zoo. Nile hippopotamuses grow up to 15 feet long. Males are heavier than females, weighing up to 8,000 pounds. Nile hippos stand at four and a half to five and a half feet tall.

Class    : Mammalia
Order    : Artiodactyla
Family    : Hippopotamidae
Genus    : Hippopotamus
Species    : Hippopotamus amphibious
IUCN threatened category : Vulnerable

Przewalski’s Horse

Mongolian Wild Horse or Przewalski’s horse is special for any zoo as they are saved by the conservation efforts that zoos take. They had gone ‘extinct in the wild’ in the 1960s and only the horses in the zoos remained. The Zoological Gardens had conducted a special programme to breed these horses. After the captive population grew, the Wild Horses were reintroduced back into the wild. Now they have made a comeback and jumped two steps to the positive side of IUCN Red List category to end up in the “Endangered” level.

Order          : Perissodactyla
Family             : Equidae
Genus          : Equus
Species          : Equus ferus
Subspecies : Equus ferus przewalskii
IUCN threatened category : Endangered

Jumbo Shipment

The military plane from Sri Lanka didn’t go to Czech Republic ‘empty-handed’ either. The plane carried a pair of elephants to the Prague Zoo. They were Janitha (8 years) and Amara (7 years) – male and female elephants from the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. It was a promise made by the Sri Lanka government to donate elephants to the Prague Zoo to support their Asian Elephant Breeding programme. This is therefore different from a normal animal exchange programme, commented the director of the Prague Zoo in reply to a query by a local newspaper in the Czech Republic. The elephants however had to travel nearly 30 hours with three transits to reach Prague, said officers of the zoo. The military plane has been prepared for this long flight, and it was a good experience for all those who were involved in the exercise of transporting the animals on the plane. 

Published in LakbimaNews on 21.10.2012 http://www.lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7282:welcome-to-the-dehiwala-zoo&catid=41:mag&Itemid=12http://www.lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7282:welcome-to-the-dehiwala-zoo&catid=41:mag&Itemid=12

Sacred yet venomous - The mighty Cobras of legend

This is the season of Vesak where Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment and passing away. No sooner Gautma became Buddha the Thathagatha spent 7 weeks paying tribute to the elements, which facilitated the journey – and provided  shelter during meditation. During the 6th week, heavy rains had prevailed but a cobra known as Muchalinda had shielded the Buddha with his large hood giving protection to the Thathagatha from the inclement rain. ZooLander this week ventures to explore the life of cobras...!

The Vesak season is celebrated with lots of lanterns and pandals. The Sath Sathiya depicts how the Buddha spent 7 weeks immediately after becoming a Thathagatha,  and is the subject of many of these pandals. The first week after enlightenment was spent under a Bo tree experiencing the freedom and peace of becoming a Buddha. On the second week, Buddha continued to gaze at the Bo tree in gratitude to the tree that had given shelter during  the struggle to attain enlightenment. Of the rest of the seven weeks, the sixth week is perhaps the most interesting for those who like to read about animals.
On the sixth week of meditation it had begun to rain heavily  threatening to disturb the Buddha’s meritorious attempt, when a huge cobra known as the Muchalinda Nagaraja (cobra king) came out from  its den and coiled its  body seven times around the Buddha to keep the Thathagatha warm. Also  the cobra protected the Buddha by shielding the Blessed One from the rain with its hood, is what legend says. Some Buddhist legends also go on to mention that after seven days, the rain stopped and the snake changed into a young man who paid his respects to the Buddha.
Whether this is fact or fiction, it is interesting that the cobra has been mentioned in a very close encounter with the Buddha. What makes it significant is that the Cobra,  known as a venomous snake, had not harmed the Buddha who also did not deny the close encounter with a cobra. Snakes are also considered disgusting as they appear slithery, whereas, in fact they are  dry  animals with scales – and perhaps this example of being able to protect the Buddha is a unique testimony to this feature.
Cobras or nagas are considered sacred by Buddhists and Hindus alike. Some legends even mention of cobras that can take the human body shape. In Hindu and Buddhist mythology It is said that nagas are a race of semi-divine serpent creatures. Female nagas are called nagis or naginis. Usually depicted as human above the waist and snake below the waist, nagas can also change shape to appear fully human, or snake. Nagas and nagis are known for their strength, supernatural wisdom, and good looks. When nagis take the human form, they can marry  mortal men, and some Indian dynasties claim descent from them. Some also believes the cobras mentioned in these legends are a tribe known as ‘Naga People’ who worships snakes.

Other snakes mentioned in Buddhism  
In Buddhism, there are many  references to snakes. In one instance the Buddha is said to have drawn a parallel between money and a snake, likening a money to a snake. The story goes,  some thieves having stolen valuables and cash from the house of a rich man had come to a field and divided the loot, from which a packet of money had dropped, and been left behind unnoticed. The Buddha had passed by, in the companying of Venerable Ananda, and on seeing the money packet, had called on Venerable Ananda to look at the very poisonous snake – and the  story continues, with the Buddha likening money to a venomous snake.
There are other instances too, where snakes are mentioned in Buddhist legends and related Jathaka stories. The cobra is undoubtedly the most famous and sacred snake of them all.

Real cobras
Whatever legend says, there are real cobras in Sri Lanka. They are one of the 7 most lethally venomous snakes and if not treated, their bites will prove to be fatal. Cobras are widely distributed in Sri Lanka and the species found here are scientifically classified as Naja Naja or Indian Cobra. On the rear of the snake’s hood are two circular patterns connected by a curved line, evoking the image of spectacles, hence our cobra is also known as the spectacled cobra. Hindus believe these markings are the footmarks of Lord Krishna that danced on hundred and ten hooded snake’s head, known as Kaliya. Naja Naja is distributed across the Indian Subcontinent.
An average cobra is about 1.9 meters (6 feet) in length and there are the rare ones that can be as long as 2.4 meters (nearly 8 feet). Cobras can expand their neck ribs to form a widened hood and our cobra too has this ability like the Muchalinda cobra king. A hood is indeed the most distinctive and impressive characteristic of the Indian cobra. It is formed by raising the anterior portion of the body and spreading some of the ribs in its neck region when it is threatened. The spectacle pattern on the hood varies greatly, as does the overall colour of the snake. The female lays 20 to 30 eggs at a time and will guard them until they are hatched.

Cobras in the zoos Snake Show
If you live in the outskirts of Colombo or in a remote area, there is a chance that you could have an encounter with a cobra. They carry a neuro-toxin venom and stings can be quite lethal if not treated. But luckily there is anti-venom snake serum available in most of the hospitals in Sri Lanka.
However, you can visit the Dehiwala Zoo to observe cobras in safety. There are a couple of cobras in the zoo’s reptilian section. A few of them are taken out during the Snake Show that is held daily at 2pm at the old elephant arenas. The show is conducted by either Nihal Senarath - the Education officer of National Zoological gardens or a curator of the reptilian area.
The Snake Show also helps to clarify some of the myths associated with cobras. Some believe that they grow wings on maturity and fly to the Himalaya region. “But the cobra is just a reptile and how can he get wings to fly,” questions Nihal Senarath during the show from a captivated audience.

Mythology busters
Snake charmers too are famous for making cobras ‘dance’ by playing their flutes. But snakes do not have ears, so there is no possibility of them responding to the sound of music. But if you look carefully, the snake charmer shakes his knee –– and the cobra too moves its head synchronizing with that movement, which explains the snake show conductors replicating the same scenario making the cobra  dance sometimes without using a flute.
It is also said that the cobras when provoked, will keep it in mind and when they get the chance, attack. But it seems this too is a myth. The cobra can perhaps live closer to the victim’s place, so there is a higher chance of getting bitten if a person is not careful. Perhaps it is a different cobra that attacks on a different occasion, but people link the two episodes and associate one cobra with both incidents ...
The cobra is a really interesting creature that evokes both fear and sanctity in the human mind. On your next visit to the zoo, observe them closely. The snake show is also an opportunity for you to get to see these creatures at closer quarters; go on  be there at 2.00pm at the old Elephant Arena located near the elephant shed.

Published on LakbimaNews on 13.05.2012 

Motherly love of a savage beast

Crocodiles are seen as ruthless killers lurking in the waters ready to attack humans. People also say that they are so ruthless that the mother crocodile even feeds on its young. Are crocs that savage?
Two weeks ago, ZooLander reported about the giant crocodile which was killed because it hunted a man that went near the marsh it lived in. Human-crocodile conflict has existed in many areas, with occasional attacks unfortunately tagging these aquatic reptiles as ruthless man-eaters.
‘Crocodile mothers are so blood thirsty, that they eat their young just as they emerge from the eggs’ is something most people believe. There are many who say they have witnessed croc mothers eating their young. Yet even the most menacing creatures in the animal kingdom usually care for their young. So what made crocodile mothers so ruthless?
There is a saying which goes ‘the eyes don’t lie’, but if you do not observe everything closely, even what your eyes see can be deceiving. It was herpetologists who first observed that crocodiles do not eat their young. Crocodiles being held in captivity helped inmaking this observation. What people see as croc moms trying to eat their young is in fact them carrying them in their mouths to a more secure place.

The young are vulnerable, that’s why they got mommy
Crocodiles usually build their nests on the bank of a river, or near a lake, an area where both land based and water based predators lurk. Though crocs are one of nature’s deadliest animals, their babies are still vulnerable to predation. This gentle act by crocodile mothers most definitely help save the lives of lots of their young for sure. And though they carry their babies in their mouths, they are ever so careful not to bite them. Like a cat moving its cubs to safety by lifting them from the skin of their necks carefully, croc mothers too take extra care not to close their deadly jaws while the babies are inside.
Scientists also believe there is chemical recognition between mother and juveniles, so she can recognize her own offspring and the young crocs also use several types of calls to communicate with the mother crocodile to solicit her protection. However, the young crocs are fair game for other adult crocodiles! The female will try to defend them, but quite a few crocodiles are eaten by larger crocs before they reach maturity. Scientists say this cannibalism actually serves a purpose - when populations are healthy, and there is no need for large numbers of juveniles to enter the population, their mortality is very high. However, if the population is low and needs to recover, the survival rate of the juveniles becomes much higher and many more survive to become adults. It’s a tough life being a crocodile!
This journey into the water, caught between jaws with a series of sharp teeth, would definitely be a memorable first tour in life, for croc babies. But this act is not the only behaviour that shows the gentle, caring side of a crocodile mother.

The importance of temperature
First of all, the crocodile mother ensures her babies get a comfortable bed until they are hatched. Croc mothers usually build a mound from vegetation and mud, and then dig a hole at the top, into which they lay their eggs before covering them over. A clutch of eggs can have as few as 8 eggs and as many as 80. Crocodile eggs take about 85 days, or almost 3 months, to incubate.
There is also amazing findings which say, that the sex of the embryos of the eggs, are decided by the temperature to which they are exposed in the nest. Scientists have found that crocodile embryos do not have sex chromosomes, and unlike humans their sex is not determined genetically, but by temperature. If the eggs are exposed to a temperature of around 31.60C (890F), these eggs will turn in to male crocs while the females are produced at slightly lower and higher temperatures. The decomposing vegetation in the nest mound provides warmth to the eggs, while the mother stays close by, guarding the nest site.
Guarding the nest is not a habit prevalent in other reptiles, which just lay eggs and moves away, leaving the babies to survive on their own. However, unlike other reptiles, crocodile parental care doesn’t stop there. The mother will guard the nest until the eggs are ready to hatch. Then when she hears the babies (called “hatchlings”) calling from within their eggs, she will open the nest and help them come out. Mother crocodiles will sometimes help the babies hatch by gently cracking the eggshells in their mouths.
The baby crocs form a ‘crèche’ - a small group that the mother will defend vigorously. Not a bad mother to have, you might say! Eventually, after several weeks or months, the juvenile crocodiles split up and disperse to try and find their own habitat, saying good bye to their beloved mother that had taken care of them, so very well.

Love even in captivity
There are facilities, similar to zoological gardens, that are specifically made for crocodiles. The most famous one is the Madras Crocodile Bank located in India. However Zoolander also found an interesting research conductede by the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in Florida, USA. They usually separate the eggs once the mother croc lays them in the mound nest, and hatch them in artificial incubators. But when they let a mother take care of its young instead as part of the study process, they reapedsome very interesting results.
They had selected a Siamese crocodile for this experiment in the year 2000. One week after the eggs were laid, the zoo based researchers gently opened the top of the nest and checked the condition of the eggs. After they allowed the eggs to hatch naturally, one morning 7 weeks later, they had noticed the mother croc lying on top of the nest. Her head was cocked sideways, seemingly listening.  After the lapse of an hour the hatchlings began coming out of the nest. As the zoo researchers watched, the female slowly used her front legs to pull dirt away from the top of the nest. When she uncovered a hatchling, she gently picked it up in her mouth and carried it to the water.  If she uncovered an egg that was not yet hatched, she gently broke the egg with her mouth, scooped up the baby and again carried it to the water. Sometimes the hatchlings were still attached to the egg by their yolk and both baby and egg would be carried to the water.  One little guy had quite a struggle - the egg he was attached to started to fill up with water and began to drag him under.  He was pulled partially under water before he managed to wiggle his way free.
All this goes to prove that zoos too can be used easily, to research the behaviour of animals. The Colombo zoo too, will soon provide many opportunities to study the behaviour of the animals in captivity, with the aim of relating these behaviours to animals in the wild.  Research, in fact, opens our eyes to the real situation, as in the case of crocodiles.
Many of us believed that crocodiles were just ruthless blood thirsty man-eaters, but they are as gentle as human moms, when it comes to parental care. True, they are dangerous animals in their territories, but let’s not make outcasts of them and have a grudge and kill them whenever a crocodile is sighted.

Published on LakbimaNews on 04.03.2012 

A giant that was too badly hurt to make it to the Dehiwela Zoo

Injured wild animals are often sent to the zoo for treatment. Last week, a giant crocodile caught in Ragama was sent to the zoo by the Department of Wildlife Conservation in an attempt to save the life of this animal  which had been badly beaten up.
Crocodiles are seen as menacing creatures. The news broke a few weeks ago that a man who went into a marsh in Ragama had been attacked by a crocodile. The man was killed and people in the area who use the marsh for many purposes were scared by the lurking threat. So they decided to catch the crocodile and a team baited the crocodile using a strong iron hook hidden in a chicken on one end with a strong rope that had been tied firmly to restrain any victim that swallowed the bait.
Luckily for the hunters the hungry croc fell for the trap. But even the hunters were surprised to find that the croc was indeed a giant. The hook, entangled deep in its mouth and neck, prevented escape. Its struggles were to no avail. Finally the team managed to drag it to the banks of the marshy land. Whilst the crocodile tried to escape, its legs and the deadly jaws were tied tight.
It measured 15 feet long and about 900kg in weight and was identified as a salt-water Crocodile by the experts. Proving that it is a truly giant, the experts claim it is one of the largest crocodiles found in recent years in South Asia. Surely, it must have been the largest specimen found in Sri Lanka.
As the news about the capture of the large crocodile spread in the area, people started to gather near the marsh to have a look at this rare creature. But unfortunately some of them were harming the crocodile, in trying to be heroes. The croc was also badly beaten and its head had been hit with a sharp weapon injuring it critically. It could be a killer croc, but it was captured and imprisoned with legs tied and kept in a helpless position. The crocodile was exhausted, scared and weakened by the time Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) officers got to inspect it.

Tragedy on the way to the zoo

The usual practice is to release captured crocodiles to a national park, but as the crocodile was injured, the DWC officers sent it to the Dehiwala Zoological gardens for treatment. The veterinary team was informed about the unusual patient that was being brought in and had to quickly get ready to act. But unfortunately, the crocodile succumbed to injuries just a few minutes before reaching the Zoological Garden. The vets and others removed the hook which was entangled in its mouth in an attempt to revive it.
“The wounds created by the hook and injury on the head were too deep that even the giant croc didn’t stand a chance,” commented the zoo’s veterinary surgeon Dr.Jagath Jayasekare who tried to save the wounded croc.
The veterinary team then conducted a post-mortem on the crocodile to find remains of the things this reptile had fed on. “There were bodies of tortoises and to our surprise, a few bones believed to be human too were collected from its belly. These were half digested and were sent for further investigations to re-verify whether these could be the bones of the unlucky victim killed by the crocodile a few weeks back,” said Dr. Jayasekare. “Usually the bones and other remains of what the crocodiles feed on fully digest due to the potency of their abdominal acids.” It was also stated that a DNA test will be carried out to identify the bone remains found in the crocodile.
Crocodiles are a protected species in Sri Lanka. They are the top predators in the riverine and marsh environments. Though they sometimes take an unlucky human victim, they mostly feed on fish. This also means that they remove the sick and weak creatures from the environment ensuring the overall health of the ecosystem. If you remove all these top predators, it will mean a loss of balance of that ecosystem. This will also have bad repercussions for all, so it is necessary to strike a balance and not to kill all those animals because of unwholesome incidents. The  way there are only a few nasty men among the good, in the animal world too there can be occasionally a nasty animal that needs to be ‘managed.’ Reptile experts recommend that there should be mechanisms to avoid confrontations with humans by different means and in the case of nasty crocs, they could be relocated instead of resorting to killing.
This croc which was killed in Ragama will be stuffed by taxidermists in the near future and will be kept on display in the zoo’s museum. At least you will get the chance to see the giant croc in that form. 

Crocs in the Zoo

Crocodiles are reptiles. So if you want to see the crocs in a zoo, you need to visit the reptilian enclosure. This was actually begun as an enclosure housing one croc. This particular one can  mostly be seen basking in the sunlight in a corner of its den. Sometimes it likes to take a dip in the small cement water pool located in the middle of the den. Other than the local crocodiles, the zoo also has foreign crocs such as the Gavial Crocodile, Cuban Crocodile and Dwarf Crocodiles. On your next visit to the zoo, you shouldn’t forget to observe these reptiles very closely.

Valentine’s Day ‘wedding’ for ram and deer at a China zoo

A Chinese zoo held a Valentine’s Day wedding on Tuesday (February 14) for a male sheep and a female deer whose unconventional relationship has captured the public imagination, state media reported. Visitors have flooded to the wildlife park in the south western province of Yunnan to see the sheep, whose Chinese name Changmao means long hair, and the deer, Chunzi (pure), after zookeepers revealed online that the pair had begun mating.On Tuesday, visitors flocked again to the zoo, to see the two unlikely lovers unite in a ceremony carefully choreographed by their keepers, the state-run China News Service said in a photo report. Photos posted online showed Chunzi trotting under a man-made arch that carried the words “I do” in Chinese, with Changmao following closely behind, as spectators stood behind a railing with cameras ready. Another photo shows the sheep puckering its lips for what looks like a kiss, while the deer looks on with an undecided look on its face. 

Gecko go on board accidentally

Published on LakbimaNews on 01.08.2010

Anaconda of the Zoo

Published on LakbimaNews on 18.07.2010

Sliders in Reptilium

published on LakbimaNews on 11.07.2010

The fairest of them all - Dehiwela zoo’s baby albino cobras

It was a robbery of a different kind that caught the attention of the world in the early 70s. Two Germans were caught at Katunayaka airport trying to smuggle out the famous albino cobra that was stolen from the Dehiwala Zoo. The cobra however was lucky - it was saved and brought back home, and successive generations have been successfully bred in the zoo. A new batch of albino cobras were hatched at the zoo recently, but are still being kept in the nursery and not allowed visitors. LAKBIMAnEWS recently paid a visit to the zoo to bring you the first news on the duo...

For some reason, Sri Lankan mothers like to have fair babies. In that sense, the guardian of the Dehiwala zoo Reptilian section must have been the happiest last June, as all 15 cobra babies that were hatched were more than just fair. They were all albinos - ivory white, a very rare breed in nature.

A creature can become an albino due to a lack of melamine in their skin (melamine is the ingredient that adds colour to the skin), but these cobras lack it genetically. Their parents who are both albinos passed their albino genes to the next generation. Even the eyes of these cobras are reddish, so they are sensitive to sunlight. They prefer to hide in the separate wooden boxes that have enough holes to provide adequate ventilation . On an earlier occasion, the baby cobras that were kept together had killed each other, so this time around the curators paired the babies and kept them in separated wooden boxes that are designed specifically for them. They were cleaning these boxes at the time we paid our visit to the zoo.

Premasiri Peries, veteran curator of the Reptilian section handled the cobra babies deftly and without worry. He took a few of them out to show us. They are now about a foot long and are learning how to 'hiss' properly. "Even though the sound is not as scary as a grown cobra’s, a bite can be lethal" warned the curator, when I was preparing to photograph the cute looking baby snake that showed me its hood. Staying still is probably the hardest thing to do as far as babies go, and these little cobras were no different. They tried to creep away as soon as Peries had taken his eyes off of them.

Incubator

"We used a locally made incubator to hatch them," said Peries. He showed us a pot filled with kohubath, with the empty egg-shells still there. The incubator was actually an invention by Peries. The babies were hatched after an incubation period of one month and 12 days. They are fed small frogs twice a week and are steadily growing in size. The albino cobras, including these babies' parents had been caught in the Piliyandala area, Peries recalled. It is unknown why albino cobras frequent this area; however the zoo now has more than 6 adults. They breed quite often but most of the hatchlings have been shared with zoos in other parts of the world. Two pairs of albinos born last year were sent to India, a bigger country with larger number of cobras but lacking in this particular breed. The education officer of the zoo Nihal Senarath, speaking on Albino Cobras said that they are one of the key attractions at the zoo. He recalled the attempted Albino Cobra robbery in 1970s. Someone had noticed a couple of foreigners jumping off the zoo's parapet wall and informed the authorities. At that time the Reptilian section was small and was located in the area now occupied by the porcupine pen. The two Germans had taken the cobra out and rushed to the airport. Due to the vigilance of airport security , these germans were caught and the snake was soon returned to the zoo where it lived a long and full life.

The newly hatched baby snakes are still being kept inside as they are very sensitive to sunlight. But you can have a good look at their parents if you visit the zoo Reptilian area.Pix courtesy Dehiwela Zoo

Won't end up as handbags, but might fit in one...