Description ²

INTRODUCTION

• Non Venomous
• Other names : Russell's Kukri, Variegated Kukri
• Has specialized curved teeth shaped like Kukri Knives to slit open eggs.

IDENTIFICATION

• Small snakes with smooth, glossy scales colored reddish-brown on dorsal and belly is white.
• Exhibits multiple patterns from series of long streaks from neck to tail & sometimes bands too.
• Small eyes with round pupils, arrow pattern on head & thick dark collar behind neck.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

• Found throughout peninsular India & most parts of North India too.
• Hide in rock piles, crevices, under wooden logs & loose roots near dense vegetation & rocks.

DIET AND BEHAVIOR

• Mainly eat small lizards, insects & particularly fond of reptile eggs.
• Nocturnal & semi-fossorial species, forage at night, sometimes even day terrestrially.
• When provoked, form loose coils with body & lift forebody off ground. Bites can tear skin due to curved teeth.

Other Kukri Snakes ²

While upto 20 species of Oligodon are found in India. Only 7 are found in the peninsula. Apart from the Banded Kukri & Streaked Kukri, the other 5 are mentioned below. All are rare species endemic to the Western Ghats

• Travancore Kukri (Oligodon travancoricus)
• Striped Kukri (Oligodon brevicauda)
• Western Kukri (Oligodon affinis)
• Black spotted Kukri (Oligodon venustus)
• Palani Hills Kukri (Oligodon nikhili)

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Vinay Gogula, all rights reserved, uploaded by Vinay Gogula
2. (c) Vinay Gogula, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HerpMapper
• Snake Database
• The Reptile Database
• VertNet

iNat Map