Coimbatore: A rare flying snake was spotted in the outskirts of oimbatore on Saturday. Called the Chrysopelea, it is a flying or gliding snake mostly found in high altitudes in South East Asian countries. It is mildly poisonous but avoids biting humans.
A farmer, Venkatesan of Kalapalayam near Mathampatti, was relaxing under a tree in front of his house on Saturday, when he noticed a snake catching a lizard.
Strangely, the two-foot long snake lunged and flew in the air to catch the lizard. Venkatesan informed A.R. Ameen, a snake rescuer, about the flying snake. Ameen along with his team took half-a-day to locate the snake.
A group of four climbed up the tree. Seeing them, the snake started to fly and glide across the nearby trees. After three hours of struggle, they managed to bring the snake to ground. Using a huge cloth, they covered the snake.
A.R.Ameen told the DC, “It's a rare sighting of flying snake in Coimbatore. Flying snakes are mildly venomous, they won’t bite humans, the venom is used to get small prey.”
The snake is mainly found in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and the Philippines. It is also found in, India, Sri Lanka and southernmost China.
The snake will glide from one tree to another, which is of the same height. It will also travel horizontally in air for a distance up to 20 feet to 25 feet, and bend its bone into a flat shape.
Activists believe that the snake would have come along with the timber logs from high altitudes to the tree-cutting saw mills in Mathampatti. The snake was later released in Navakarai Pudhupathi area in Western Ghats close to Tamil Nadu-Kerala border.
