King cobra under pressure from habitat loss in Kerala

Large-scale deforestation and the disturbances caused by poachers and illicit liquor-brewers could be forcing king cobras to migrate from their natural habitat in bamboo-rich dense evergreen forests to villages nearby. A study conducted by the researchers of the Department of Zoology, University of Kerala, and the Reptile Study Group, Thiruvananthapuram, has revealed that the king cobra, the world's longest venomous snake, is under increasing pressure from habitat loss. Oommen from the Department of Zoology, and B. Suresh of the Reptile Study Group, observed that much of the king cobra's rainforest-habitat had been lost as a result of deforestation due to an increasing demand for timber and farm land, fuelled by the spiralling human population. Butterflies threatened Another paper, presented by Brilliant Rajan and others from the School of Environmental Studies under the MG University, Kottayam, observed that the grasslands of the Western Ghats in Kerala, home to a rich collection of butterflies, including endemic species, were under increasing threat from tourism, reclamation of wetlands, clearing of shola forests, and construction of roads and other such activities. The study, which sought to document the butterfly diversity in Vagamon, a hill station bordering Idukki and Kottayam, recorded 112 species of butterflies belonging to five families, including the Southern Birdwing, Malabar Rose, Nilgiri Tiger and Pygmy Grass Hopper, four species endemic to the Western Ghats.