For children: Meet herpetologists, the Irular community, snake-catchers, who help conserve snakes
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Who is a herpetologist?
Herpetologists are people who study reptiles and amphibians. Many of them specialise in snakes. To figure out which species a snake belongs to, a herpetologist looks at colour, size, shape of the head and whether it has fangs or not. But to really confirm the species, he/she has to count how many scales it has around the body and how many ventral scales there are under the body, since each species has its own specific number.
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There are many famous herpetologists of India: Malcolm Smith, Patrick Russell and Frank Wall from the British period and dozens from post-Independence!
Herpetologists who have written important books on Indian snakes include JC Daniel, who wrote The Book of Indian Reptiles, and Rom Whitaker and Ashok Captain who authored Snakes of India.
How do herpetologists track snakes?
This is done by implanting a tiny radio transmitter in the body of snakes – a tracking device that helps herpetologists follow snakes using a receiver. This method of studying animals is called radio telemetry.
We have used this method to study king cobras in Agumbe in the Western Ghats. Two researchers are assigned to each tagged snake, setting off at dawn with food and water for the day. Using the receiver, they locate the snake, observe and...