Saving Snakes

Category: 6. Elapidae - COBRAS and MAMBAS | Date: Nov 30 2007 | By: admin

YES! Finally we are here.

About four years ago we contacted Dr. Wolfgang Wuster a lecturer at the University of Bangor in Wales about a Cobra we had suspected to be different. Dr. Wuster had just concluded a paper on a new species from Sudan the Nubian Spitting Cobra Naja nubia which was previously recorded as a colour phase of the Red Spitting Cobra Naja pallida which is found in Kenya. Being recommended highly as really the man to talk to about Cobras, Anton, Sanda and I decided to get the ball rolling.

According to the most concise reference book on East African Snakes ‘ A Field Guide to the Reptiles of East Africa’, by Stephen Spawls, Kim Howell, Robert Drewes and James Ashe - 2002, our snake was recorded as a brown colour phase of the Black Necked Spitting Cobra Naja nigricollis. James Ashe who founded Bio-Ken in 1980 had for many years suspected that the large brown spitting cobras along the coast may be different, and after working with them for many years we agreed with him. The issue was how do we prove it.

We managed to prove the difference by sending blood and tissue samples to Dr. Wolfgang Wuster. He was so excited at what he found from what we sent him that he came out and spent some time at Bio-Ken taking more samples for DNA analysis as well as taking reference photos and descriptive notes. He selected a specimen that I had caught trying to break into our chicken house a in 2002 (our ref BK-10030) and after taking pictures it was euthanized so as to have a holotype that was preserved. The holotype is now at the National Museum in Nairobi under Reference number NMK S/3993. It has taken about three years to prepare the paper and get it published. It has now finally been published by Wolfgang Wuster and another great snake man in Africa Donald Broadley. Well done guys. The Paper can be viewed by clicking on the following link http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/zt01532p068.pdf

James Ashe died in 2004 and in memory of him it was agreed that the snake should be named after him. It was thus named Ashe’s Spitting Cobra Naja Ashei which is a great honer for him. We however still call it by the common name that he used the Large Brown Spitting Cobra.

This is a very big Cobra indeed and is possibly the Largest in Spitting Cobra found any where in the World. We also know that it is responsible for very serious snake bite cases in our area. During the work we did with Wolfgang in 2004 for this snake I milked a specimen which gave a woping 6.2ml of liquid venom, weighing 7.1g. possibly one of the largest venom yields milked from any one snake at any one milking anywhere in the world. Some of our Larger specimens at Bio-Ken are nearly eight feet long. This is massive and so we would advise people to be most careful if one is seen in the wild. Do not approach it unless you really have the experience to do so.

Lastly I’d like to say a good clap of hands to all members of the team involved. We hope Jimmy, that you approve from wherever you are, and to the world we say, on behalf of all of us, may we introduce you Naja Ashei.

Photo by Wolfgang Wuster

Photo by Wolfgang Wuster

Photo by Wolfgang Wuster

Photo by Wolfgang Wuster

Photo by Danie Theron

Technorati : Ashe’s Spitting Cobra, Large Brown Spitting Cobra, Naja ashei

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