Guillaume Gomard wrote:Another location added to my "to do list", thank you
Could you tell us more about King Cobra (estimate of the population, your own experience, etc.)?
Thanks for your post and answers.
I was there in the rainy season, and for king cobras it was not the best period: I would recommend mating season, which I suppose similar to India (Agumbe) in march.
I think the population of king cobras in Havelock is really consistent, and I have a picture (not mine) of a king cobra found on a small boat at shore among empty plastic bottles.
Besides this, I've also seen a dead king cobra photographed in Havelock with a cell phone by local people.
On you tube you can find this film (lucky laymen!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoMAJ0wvD6oTales about king cobras are very common in Havelock: king cobras were spotted in or near the pond I've photographed, and one big specimen was seen for rather a long period (many days) among the bushes which separate the lodge from the beach.
In search of snakes (and of king cobras in particular) we went with the boat in a region of the island which young fishermen described us as a very good place for snakes. There I saw a huge Ptyas rolled under a "palmetto" bush: having a little fear of confusion with a king, I didn't grab it with my hands, but touched it with a stock. The big snake disappeared in a matter of a fraction of second at the opposite side of the bush.
In the mangrove habitat you can see in my picture it was very difficult to walk over the roots. The young boys indicated us suddenly "a snake" under the roots.
At first I didn't see anything and I thought to see soon a small water snake like Cerberus or something like this because of the strange and wet habitat.
But then I saw, in the distance, a big slender blackish snake with reddish neck swimming under the roots. It was probably about 2 meters long, but it's very difficult to say something more precise about dimensions: it was nothing more than a short glimpse of a big swimming snake, impossible to photograph and even more impossible to catch.
I'm pretty sure it was a king cobra, and my two herp friends, wo were with me, were sure of the identification too. What else could it be? A blackish 2 meters long snake, with reddish neck, swimming with a big elevated head in a dense mangrove swamp...
Once back to the lodge, I told this story, and a worker of the lodge confirmed to me that also the specimen spotted near the lodge pond had a reddish neck, and that this was a common characteristic of many king cobras in Havelock. I don't know if it's true: the cobra photographed on the small boat has a normal, bright and distinctly banded coloration. But coloration in king cobras changes a lot with the seasons: during the wet season, for instance (I speak of my Agumbe experience with the team of Rom Whitaker), both males and females tend to be almost totally black. And I was in Havelock during the wet season.
I hope this will help: and please, post a 3D here if you will travel to the Andamans in the future!