The temperature is high, and the spotted flying lizard basks in the mango tree next to the Nanchahe monitoring station from time to time, and occasionally slides between branches. Except for Biao, everyone else took advantage of this time to go into the house and take a nap. He sat at the door of the dormitory, with a cigarette in his hand, and burned the ants on the door with cigarette butts from time to time. He is the least courageous one in our team. Compared with Abiao, the others didn't show any anxiety, but they could still see that everyone was a little nervous. Because our task this time is to find the biggest poisonous snake in the world-King cobra.
On the eve of action
I have come into contact with all poisonous snakes in China, including many snakes from Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa. I'm not a biologist, but I was crazy about reptiles when I was a child. I'm crazy about reptiles. I read many articles about Komodo Dragon and King cobra in the fifth grade of primary school. Before receiving this filming task, I always avoided meeting any biologists because I didn't want to get any relevant data. I thought as long as the king cobra existed, it was enough.
The understanding of reptiles in Bawangling originated eight years ago, when my jungle teacher Jin Gyeong and I visited Bawangling Forest Farm and saw almost all snakes here. 20 10 we also found several Fujian plum snakes at an altitude of 900 meters. The mountainous jungle of Bawangling at an altitude of 800 meters to 1000 meters is rich in snakes and is the main activity area of King Cobra. The rich snake resources here provide them with enough food.
In 20 13, Abiao was riding a motorcycle in Nanchahe, and happened to see a king cobra swallowing a black-browed snake in the middle of a mountain road. In a panic, Auntie quickly stopped the motorcycle, only to fall on the slippery roadside. King cobra quickly spit out the half-swallowed brocade snake and chased after Ah Biao. A Biao forgot the pain and ran away quickly along the road. This behavior of the king cobra is called "driving people away" by the locals. They are very regional. Although there are only snakes in the menu, I have also seen a sub-adult king cobra driving squirrels away in Nanchahe area. This behavior is defined as active attack by some snake experts.
Brother Mouse really deserves his reputation. He caught 16 mice in cassava fields in two hours, and he also picked 1 bright green trollius. This poisonous snake often appears in banana forests and cassava fields, because the needle-haired mice living there are their favorite foods. I was particularly impressed by Washington. In 2004, I was bitten by this poisonous snake. It feels like a needle, but it doesn't hurt very much. The toxins in the blood circulation will take effect within 1 minute, and the muscles will begin to swell, giving people the feeling of subcutaneous injection of warm water. I just ate some Chinese herbal medicine and injected 4 bottles of glucose. If we want to find the king cobra, it is obviously a good sign to see other snakes, because as long as we find an area with dense snake activities, this huge poisonous snake is likely to appear, and it may be attracted by other snakes.
A Biao took Brother Mouse's mouse and began to prepare dinner. Mouse meat, cassava and revolutionary dishes in the jungle are all natural and delicious. A Biao skillfully peeled off the fur of the mouse, took out the internal organs, cut the mouse meat into small pieces and fried it in the oil pan. A Guang is a master at digging wild honey. There are two jars of wild mead brewed by him on the construction site. It seems that I really got drunk the night before the construction.
20 14 strong typhoon hit Hainan island, and the river course of bawangling forest farm changed greatly. Four roads leading to Nanchahe monitoring station in Bawangling town were destroyed, and the activity place of Hainan gibbon was also affected. The place 3 kilometers away from the monitoring station used to be a hydropower station, but now it has been washed away by the flood water brought by the typhoon, leaving only fallen boulders and the ruins of the former power station.
"I saw the snake king there last week!" A-guang carefully sipped the delicate mouse meat, dried a cup of honey wine and said, "There is a dead puddle now, where there are often water snakes. I have seen the king cobra looking for water snakes there. "
Abiao doesn't drink, so he always eats cassava. Brother Mouse spat out a mouse bone, which attracted the coveted "yellow" (A Guang's dog).
"Be careful where you are, go down to the puddle, if there is a snake king to catch you! See where you are going! "
"The last time I was in the cassava field, I saw an arm-thick king cobra sunbathing on a big stone. It saw me, I saw it, and it ran away! "
Several of us had a good time chatting through the strength of wine, and everyone's slightly nervous atmosphere seemed to be washed away without a trace.
The power of venom
King cobra is the largest poisonous snake in the world, and individuals over 5 meters in length have been found in historical records. Some people think they are extremely dangerous snakes. From Indian to Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and southern China are the main distribution areas of King Cobra. Fortunately, King cobras rarely conflict with humans, and they only like to live in dense jungles. 1994, a Li woman who caught and sold snakes in the rural area of Bawangling was bitten by a small snake with "V" stripes. The woman fell into a coma within 10 minutes and stopped breathing within 1 hour. Later, this little snake was determined to be the cub of a king cobra. Unlike Agkistrodon halys, the venom of King cobra is a mixture of two toxins, of which neurotoxin is the main component, which can paralyze the respiratory system or cause organ failure. Another circulating toxin will gradually destroy blood vessels, muscles and lymphatic system.
In the distribution area of king cobra, many people are as afraid of king cobra as A Biao. Because some people will meet the snake king when hunting in the jungle. When disturbed, an adult king snake will erect the front of its body 1/3. If you face a king cobra about 4 meters long, when it stands up, only its head will be as high as your chest. King cobra is actually a very smart guy. They just want to use venom at the most critical moment. This behavior can scare away bigger intruders, even Asian elephants. If the enemy is not scared away, the king cobra attacks like many coral snakes. It will bite its prey and spray venom wildly. What is more striking is that when king cobra preys on non-poisonous snakes, it usually catches its prey by biting. It tries not to release precious venom, but tries its best to fight its prey and eventually devour it. If you meet a bigger snake, you will exert the power of venom.
Every summer is the most active time for the poisonous snakes in Bawangling. A Biao complained many times that there are many king cobras now, and they are often encountered, which may be related to the fact that some Buddhist believers come to Bawangling to release snakes every year. "There are many snakes here, and the king cobra will definitely come to eat." There is some moisture floating in the air, and raindrops like wheat ears are scattered in the air. Ah Fu's voice did not fall, but he heard "Huang" screaming wildly in the garbage behind the toilet. This puppy is a good hand at finding snakes. When it finds a snake, it can always give a message to Ah Guang at the first time. Just behind the toilet, on a broom above the garbage dump, there is an adult poisonous snake on the plate. This is the biggest individual we have seen in 10 years. It lurks there quietly, waiting for the mouse in the dark. This is a grumpy poisonous snake, slightly more toxic than the Chinese snake, and it is the favorite food of the snake king. Seeing this poisonous snake seems to be a good sign for us to look for the king cobra. No one can predict the weather the next day. We drank wine, tea and chatted under the eaves, and the rain began to get heavier and the fog on the surrounding mountains began to increase. A few strange frogs croak from time to time in the distance. That's the cry of a running frog in Hainan. This is the peak of snake activity. First, they are looking for frogs to fill their stomachs. Second, they won't meet the powerful king cobra at night.
King cobra is a diurnal snake, which is most active at dawn and dusk. If the sun shines the next day, we decide to try our luck on the boulders around Nancha River. King cobra likes to sunbathe in this place. But most people think that there is an adult snake king around the dilapidated power station in the river. In the past three years. I have seen King cobra five times and had two positive experiences. The king snake is different from other poisonous snakes when attacking. They like to rush at them directly and open their mouths to intimidate their enemies. The fangs of adult king snakes are about 6 mm to 8 mm, belonging to the former hooked snake. For this special situation, the best solution is to use a long wooden stick to pick it up.
The survival of king cobra depends on a sound natural rainforest and a sufficient number of other snakes. Chahe River in Lingnan, Wang Ba just met such a relatively harsh condition. The temperature in the morning is about 18 degrees Celsius, while the temperature at noon will rise by about 10 degrees Celsius. The frequency of snake activity will decrease with the increase of temperature. At this time, most snakes like to hide near the dry and wet riverbed, where they can find a cool hiding place. Noon is the main foraging time of king cobra, which usually feeds by searching and digging holes. King cobra also collects information factors in the air by shaking its tongue in the air, thus roughly determining the whereabouts of other snakes. Usually, the king cobra will drill into a crack next to the river bed or a natural cave to search. There are two main kinds of snakes living on the riverbed of Bawangling Mountain: fish snakes and lead water snakes. At noon, water snakes like activities. In places where the water is not rushing, water snakes will look for fast-moving frogs perched on the stone walls, so I put my hopes on the dead puddle formed by the dilapidated power station.
"King cobra!"
The sun in July is still very poisonous, and the road around the power station has not been repaired. We can only push the motorcycle forward. A-guang walked ahead and saw a green snake with a sharp beak crawling over the muddy mountain road. To be on the safe side, I made a simple wooden stick for everyone to save themselves at a critical moment. Abiao followed me, always worried, paying attention to the grass beside the mountain road. I suggest a-guang stand on the commanding height about 30 meters away from the puddle and observe it with a telescope to see if there is anything. On the quiet water, except for a few backstrokes, bugs and water strider, all seem to be dead.
Then we climbed to the power station destroyed by the typhoon. There are many aquatic insects living in the pool, and there are some foam frog eggs just laid by the spotted-legged tree frog on the branches next to it, but there are no traces of snakes. This proves that there must be snakes. They are just hiding. According to my experience, we must wait quietly in this place for several hours, because snakes are particularly sensitive to vibration, and our arrival may disturb them.
I saw a male color-changing tree lizard suddenly appear on the branch next to the puddle. Lizards are often a good sign, which shows that reptiles hiding around have gradually adapted to human existence. After about 10 minutes, a Zaocys appeared in the stone pile far away from the puddle and swam quickly across the swift stream. We are still looking forward to the emergence of the king cobra. At this time, a bubble appeared on the silent water, and an adult fish snake poked its nose out of the water for air. The forked tongue also searches for information factors in the surrounding air. It's a good thing nobody smokes. A few minutes later, it appeared from the water grass. Its body is protruding in the middle. I'm sure it may have just eaten fish or frogs. I'm sure it's a frequent visitor here. We had an accident while catching this water snake. The snake bit my arm and the wound was deep. A guang treated the wound with ash.
Finding the king cobra is not an easy task. We not only need to find the right place, but also need excellent luck. We waited here for 1 week, and observed four kinds of non-poisonous snakes, but there was still no king cobra.
August 25, 20 14, there are still about three hours before the sun goes down. We searched by the stream in the rainforest. No matter who walks in front, we will pay attention to everything under our feet or on our heads. Because the jungle is a huge organism, everything here is alive, and there will always be unexpected things in front of you. A-guang walked slowly while cutting off the rattan in front of him, occasionally driving away the crickets crawling around his neck. Through the walkie-talkie, we learned that Brother Mouse had dug up a poisonous silver ring snake in a cave near the puddle. And our position has deviated from the road, and it is a lonely place. I also pay attention to everything around me, because such an environment is likely to be bitten by a poisonous tree snake.
"Snake! There is a snake! "
"Where?"
"Look! Ah! It's the king cobra! "
"Don't make any noise! It may have found us! "
A-guang in front hid behind a tree and whispered to me. I looked in the direction of his finger, and an adult king cobra was quietly nesting on a bare stone in the bushes. It did find us, raised its head slightly and explored the human information factors we left in the air with its tongue. Only heard a "hoo", its neck quickly stood up and began to confront us.
"I have been waiting for this moment!"
"Be careful, are you sure?"
"A little."
"good! All right! Come here! A-guang, get behind me! "
I decided to collect this 3-meter-long king cobra and film it. The snake quickly crawled towards us and opened its mouth to threaten us. I caught the snake with a fork and it quickly bit the fork. This female king cobra is really fierce, and we may have entered its nest area. Usually in July every year, female king snakes will find a relatively hidden area to lay eggs after mating with male individuals. After laying an egg, the female snake does not leave, but sticks around the egg all the time, just to prevent birds or other carnivores from stealing the egg. At this time, the female snake will be extremely fierce and extremely aggressive.
It really takes skill and enough care to catch this snake. I put a snake fork on its neck and carefully put it away. This is my first time to collect an adult king cobra, and my heart is still pounding. Different from cobra, we can clearly see two pillow scales on its head and obvious "V" stripes on its back. Although the snake is fierce, it doesn't feel much strength.
Judging from the posture of this female snake, it should be five or six years old. Maybe it just laid eggs and is defending its offspring next to its nest. King cobra can lay forty or fifty eggs at a time, which will consume a lot of physical strength. Incubation is a long process that takes about 60 to 80 days. At this time, the mother snake will not go out hunting or eat any food, just waiting for the baby snake to be born. But the arrangement of nature sometimes seems incomprehensible, but it maintains the balance of the whole food chain. After the baby snake is born, the mother snake will quickly change her role and bite the baby bit by bit. After adapting to the environment, the newborn cubs began to devour each other. Therefore, only a small part of the family unit can escape successfully, and even fewer individuals can continue to grow into adults. Adult king cobra almost occupies the highest position in the jungle food chain and has almost no natural enemies.
Three days later, Brother Mouse and I saw a 2-meter-long male king cobra swallowing a water snake on the beach of the water frog, and that water snake was the adult fish snake that had attacked me before. During the female snake's egg protection, the mated male snake will expand its range of activities. At this time, once they meet the mother snake who protects the eggs, they will fight with the mother snake and eventually kill the mother snake. This strange behavior of King cobra was discovered by Indian scientists in 2002, but scientists have still failed to effectively explain this behavior.
King cobra is listed as a national second-class protected wild animal. In China, the main distribution area of King cobra has been planned as a protected area. As long as the habitat exists, they can survive. The source of overfishing still comes from China. There is a great demand for king cobra in catering and medicinal materials market every year. Now, China's main demand comes from Viet Nam. I think the real threat comes from global climate change. For the rainforest environment, the complex forest hierarchy naturally protects the soil under the rainforest land. Abnormal climate will affect the normal development of snake eggs, and humidity and temperature difference will directly affect many factors of reptile embryonic development. This can be proved in the laboratory that snakes bred by artificial individuals have many mutated individuals without well controlling the temperature difference between day and night. This may be the most critical factor affecting the future of King cobra.