SNAKE THAT GIVES BIRTH - Kuala Gula, Perak

Travelog date: 2009

Location: Kuala Gula, Taiping, Perak

THINGS THAT I NEVER LEARNED IN SCHOOL

WHEN I was in school, I was taught that mammals give birth, reptiles lay eggs.

That was taken as the rule of thumb! If they lay eggs, then they are reptiles, but if they give birth then they are mammals.

I remember asking my teacher whether reptiles can give birth and how she used to give me the disgusted look, as if I had committed the greatest sin, and was not listening to her teaching and was just testing her patient.

She sternly said – NO!

And moved on, with describing other characteristics of the reptile.

newly planted
mangrove sapplings

That belief stayed on with me, through biology class in high school Yes I passed the subject with flying colours and strongly belief that reptiles only lay eggs. I went through tertiary education with that belief. Perhaps it probably would have been different if I continued studying science in the university but I went doing arts, literature and language instead. So the belief stayed on until I completed my post graduate studies. (I guest, even if I were to stay on and continue to do my PhD then, I would still belief the same – that all snakes lay eggs).

It was not until last year, 2009, that I learned - SNAKES DO GIVE BIRTH! Yes, they do – at least some species do - shattering my age-old belief that snake only lay eggs. 



They do give birth too!



YES, belief me, they do!

(Felt so dumb when I found that out, especially at this age. Perhaps I was the only few who didnt know that snakes do give birth, or was my science teacher just did not want to tell me, so that I wont get confuse and give a wrong answer during examination – argh, the exam oriented learning).

Where did I learn it? In the mudflat, Kuala Gula, Taiping. Yes, off the classroom – out in the mudflat! Amongst the mangrove trees – which I also called my ‘post grad’ classroom!



my post grad classroom



I was checking the mudflat ecosystem to gather information for our eco-tourism and mangrove rehabilitation projects.

Getting excited to see the colourful fiddler crab, fiddling, waving its bluish, oversize claw while the smaller claw busy picking up food and scooping into its mouth.

While the shy hermit crab peeking from its ‘adopted’ shell then rushed to move away from the crowded place to find solace.



mudskipper (belacak)



Watching mudskippers wagging their tails and gliding on the mud.

Then I saw it – the snake!

Moving ever so lazily in the mud before peeking its head from the water, perhaps to see whether there is any threat or purely to look for sign of food.

It was stripy and about a foot long.

I am not too fond of snake but I don’t think its a phobia. I just dont like the scaly, rough, slimy skin, slithering its way – definitely not in contact with me!

So I do not have much knowledge about snake – nor do I know the snake family much, what more the individual species.

I can tell the basic family like cobra, python or simply harmless garden snake. But I can hardly distinguish or tell the name of various other snakes. I dont even know the difference between boa constictor, anaconda and python – they all look similar to me. All of them kill their prey by constriction, coiling their prey and crushing their bones for easy swallow later.

(NOTE: Python - a snake of the family pythonidae, and more especially any one of the species of the genus python. The snakes of this genus are large, and its various species are found throughout the tropics of the old world. The snakes of the python family are distinguished from the boas with which they are often confused, by the presence of the supraorbital bone in the skull. As in the boas, vestiges of the hind limbs are present, visible externally as a pair of claws adjacent to the anal cleft. The teeth are strong and adapted for catching and holding the prey. There is no venom or venom-conducting apparatus. Killing of the prey is effected by constriction; one or more coils of the body are thrown around the victim, following up the stroke of the head, and pressure is applied by the powerful body muscles. The pressure exerted by a large python must be terrific. The prey is killed, however, by suffocation rather than by any actual crushing of the ribs – source wikipedia online)



Does the face really looks like
a dog to you?



 And what about that snake in the mudflat in Kuala Gula?

Its the dog-faced snake, said my boss, a country director.

A what?

A dog-faced snake! Its distinguished by the dog-face look-alike feature.

It was hard to see from the distance of how similar the snake’s face to the dog’s anyway, but i believe him, with more than 15 years in the line, I have to believe him.

“And it gives birth,” he continued.

“Say what?” I said.

The statement was too much for me to digest because it went against the 40-year belief I had about snake as a reptile – that they lay eggs.

“Yes, they give birth instead of lay eggs,” he reiterated.



crabs - fiddler crabs!



Oh man, I wanted so much to question his statement – but I realised that it would only make me looked dumb for doubting someone who can be considered as an authority in the field, someone who has done numerous researches on the subject and countless presentations all over the world and published articles and books over the years.

So I had to admit the truth – that I did not know that fact, and it was something new for me – and pulled the face of a newbie who is ever so willing to learn something new.

Apparently there are several species of snakes that give birth. Among them are the boa constrictor genus – which include the boa constrictor (found in South Africa) and anaconda (which is found in South America) – both from the Pythonidae family (common name python). Although they are from the same family, the boa genus (boa and anaconda species) give birth while pythons (which are found in Asia) lay eggs.

Other snakes that lay eggs are copperheads and rattlesnakes.

These snakes tend to eat the still born (dead during birth) to replace their energy, which was lost during pregnancy and giving birth.

The next question was – does that mean those snakes that give birth are not reptiles?

Actually I learned that giving birth does not make them mammals, they are reptiles, still, regardless of whether they are giving birth or lay eggs.

According to the Wikipedia the dog faced water snake  (cerberus rynchops), got their name for their distinctive head shape with large scales (shield), small eyes positioned close to top of the head and nostrils. They are found mostly in mangroves and brackish rivers, but sometimes also in freshwater or paddy field.

They feed mainly on fish, mudskippers and eels. They also eat crabs.

They usually give birth to a dozen or two young ones in a litter (Imagine such a small snake is capable of carrying 24 babies inside its tummy!)

Actually it said, the dog-faced snake is quite slow and they do not move much in water. When faced with human, they tend to flee rather than attack or bite. Phew, I was relieved!

Oh yes, the same thing last year, I also learned that it is possible to have a paddy field next to the sea, something that my art teacher during school years should learn too. Over and over they had told us to draw paddy field with only mountain or hills in the background NOT sea or ocean.

I would probably
would have gotten an F
if I were to draw this in
art class during school years

The logic was that, sea or ocean do not mix with paddy field – they will spoil the paddy. Sea or ocean scene go with fishing village with lotsa coconut trees!!!

But in Sulawesi we saw how the farmers have their paddy field along the beach – only to be separated by the road. The villagers are both farmers and fishermen.

I guess we are never too old to learn, afterall, learning is a lifelong process - beyond exams!

Ends