Battle for Survival

I generally have busy Sundays doing my once in a week household work etc. but this time it was different thanks to the festival/holiday season! Feeling tame at home, got out to see one of my acquaintances, Bora (it is his surname though) at a nearby place, only for that selfish reason. After 10-15 mins of general conservation when I was getting up to leave, Bora casually mentioned about a Snake which has caught a too-big-to-swallow Frog in his backyard. My heartbeats rocketed and I immediately changed my course and ran towards the opposite direction! But I failed to spot the snake right away, Bora then pointed towards a corner under a lemon shrub. It was a 3 ft (approx.) greenish serpent with yellow marking on the body and trying to sallow not a frog but a common toad (Bufo melanostictus). I asked Bora to keep an eye on them and left to get my camera. From the size of the toad I knew that the snake would take time to gulp it down. Once armed with my camera, I tiptoed towards the snake. It was difficult then I thought to reach the snake, I literally crawled ignoring mud, sewage lines, rotting garbage and thorny bushes. The snake seemed alert but ignorant of me and put all of its focus and strategy towards contending the toad. After clicking some images I realized I wasn’t close enough for a proper photograph and the reptile was still 3-4 meters away from me! But a barbed wire fence restricted my progress, as if asserting my limit. Neither I nor the snake was in the best position to photograph but I had to settle for whatever I had.

The Epic Battle!

Lying under the lemon shrub trying to focus my camera, I realized that through such epic battles how these species have evolved to confront each other and co exist. Its evolution which enables the snake to expend it’s lower jaw to swallow a prey as much as 4 times (in this case) it’s own head size, like a human gulping down a whole pig or goat. On the other hand the toad inflamed itself as a defense mechanism! Back to reality, my love for frogs made me feel sorry for the poor toad which was being swallowed alive! But I love snakes too and I knew it was following its natural instinct. So I remained calm and did what I was supposed to do, photograph this natural phenomenon! It was really a big toad, probably bigger than the snake would have wanted! Generally snakes eat their prey head first but it was reverse in this case. The snake got hold of the toad from behind and because of the size of the toad and in the absence venom it had no choice other than to hold on to its grip and ‘walk’ it’s jaws forward along the prey! In not more than 10-15 mins the toad had gradually disappeared into the snake’s stomach. After tolerating me through its lunch the snake seemed to be getting agitated with my presence. More so because with a prey that size inside it, the snake knew it would be vulnerable to all sorts of threats. I knew visitor’s time was up and I must leave.

Holding on for dear Life!

Back to my place, I tried to identify the snake. The photos were not (close) enough but with my limited knowledge and literature I knew it was one of the Keelbacks. Its color and patterns made me uncertain between Green Keelback (Marcopisthodon plumbicolor) and Red Necked Keelback (Rhabdophis subminiatus). Later Herpetologist Abhijit Das helped me to confirm it to be an adult Red Necked Keelback. It’s a rear fanged, semi-venomous species that is widely distributed in South East Asia. Since they are rear fanged, a short and quick bite of the snake may not harm, but a prolonged bite is reported to be lethal.

Though it was an everyday activity in a Snake or toad’s life but it’s fascinating how these reptiles and amphibians have evolved and survived for millions of years! But unfortunately other than herpetologists like Abhijit and snake lovers like me they don’t enthuse much of us. But we mustn’t underestimate the fact that they inhabited our planet much before we did and we, the mammals have evolved from some form of amphibians or reptiles. So it’s time we gave them the respect that they deserve and learn to coexist!

Am grateful to Bora for the sighting and Abhijit for the help in identification and information.

Room full of Nature!!

Since I have a desk job it keeps me at the desk most of the time, without letting me any opportunity to go out to enjoy nature and photograph it. I often find myself in between a rational pull n push of what or how should I manage both?!?!? As always it ends up me consoling myself with ‘I need to plan a trip soon!’ It amazes me though how ‘NEED’ always overpowers ‘WANT’ in our lives!

Living with the disappointment, I remembered the lesson of one of the renowned personalities I met during my Samrakshn days, that – One need not go to forests or National parks to experience /appreciate nature, its everywhere around us, just need to care enough and have an eye for it! I decided to put the theory to a real test without stepping out of my room. The plan was to give it a couple of months (to be fair on the theory) to observe natural activities inside my room. While I was wondering if I was being too harsh on the theory, nature on the other hand (as always)was gearing up to surprise me.

Spirama helicina on my roof-ceiling

Not more than a couple of days into the plan I began to notice Moths sitting on my walls and roof-ceiling. Moths and Butterflies belong to the order Lepidoptera in the insect world. Lepidoptera means scaled wings (lepido = scale, ptera = wings). Though they fall under the same order, moths are much under-studied then their cousins, the Butterflies! One of the reasons could be lack of interest. For most of us moths are butterfly like flying insects active mostly at night with striking colors and wild patterns/designs on their wings and in bizarre shapes and sizes. They don’t draw much of our attention. Perhaps in today’s fashion-crazy world when style drives us all, Moths with their odd look don't quite fit in! But then there are people who spend nights searching for Moths, and because of them we have hope.

Moth on my wall

Anyway since Moths were flying around in my room, I started to give them more attention. In one month time I have recorded at least a dozen different (looking) Moths inside my room! I photographed most of them except the Micromoths (really tiny ones) and those which were out of my lens' range.

The reason behind such a high moth count could be the location of my house. I remember the discussion with Sanjoy Sondhi (Naturalist and avid moth watcher) in one of the moth watching evenings, where he gave us pointers to attract moths -

Open space opposite forest/bush with a bright screen and a high power fluorescent lamp on top of the screen. My room apparently fulfills all the requirements.

Butterfly on my bed

Since I was active mostly at nights only so what I observed were mostly Moths. Oddly enough though it was night a couple of Butterflies did pay a visit just to remind me of them. I love butterflies just like the other person, they are the insects I first look for in forests and they are not at all camera conscious so I love photographing them too! Along with Moths and Butterflies the other creatures I noticed were Dragonflies, House Geckos, Spiders and Common Indian Toads and their interaction with each other.

Micromoth on my roof ceilling

In one of the relatively cooler nights I was waiting in my room keeping my windows open and light on to invite moths but I didn't see any. Later I noticed my roof ceiling was almost covered with Micromoths of a particular kind. It was a feeding frenzy for the house geckos. Even when the geckos were done hunting I found 37 Micromoths were still there in the room!

Dinner time!

Another similar incident was me trying to photograph one of the Common Toads attempting to pounce on a moth. Although I managed to get a photo of the event but I ended up doing what humans do best and worst to Nature ‘Interference’! My interference in this case has cost the poor Toad its dinner. Though I enjoy photographing inter species interaction, I should be more responsible and careful in future with my passion.

It’s been almost two months now, moths have become regular. I can identify them with the design on their wings; however I am not sure how reliable it is as an identification technique. Well nothing can beat the joy/thrill of going out into a forest and searching for wildlife but when I am not, I have my times worth at home! Though I live alone am not lonely, I am happy to share my room with all these different characters.

So truly Nature is everywhere around us, do we care enough to observe it?!?!

For more photographs of the episode, please check - 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dumbopics/