Shattering Mythological Glasses

Deep in those greeny woods, the foliage has grown thick and lush… there might be a pair of beady eyes, staring at you, noticing even your slightest moves, even the blink of an eye is enough. It would only take an iota of time for this flashy green, whip-like creature to attack you! Who is this mysterious creature? ඇහැටුල්ලා or Green-vine snakes are said to be hanging from branches, blending in with the veils of green, waiting to ambush people and then striking their face and gouging out the eyes!

Is there any truth behind this fact? Or is it merely a story? Or a baseless myth? Generally, people find snakes either adoring or repulsive; the extreme opposites. Veraciously speaking, these scale-covered faunas are the most misunderstood and bring the most fear in the world. In Sri Lanka, people believe these myths and stories regarding snakes rather blindly, that they cannot even tolerate the presence of a live snake anywhere in their vicinity. Myths about the Colubrid snakes are more common and more extreme than any other snakes in our country. Hence, let’s dive into the mythology of snakes and clarify whether these myths are real. Or whether reality is a myth. As the prologue describes, the famous ඇහැටුල්ලා or Green-vine snake apparently plucks the eyes of humans. This very myth can be disposed of flat out because no such incident has been recorded so far. The ඇහැටුල්ලා is a species of mildly venomous, arboreal snakes and because of this, the most vulnerable area of a person that would be encountered is the upper body. This includes the face of a person.

And also there is a vicious belief about the නිදි මාපිලා that these nocturnal reptiles hang from ceilings and bite sleeping, humans. If bitten by it, you would fall into a sound sleep and die without waking up. But the මාපිලා is also a mildly venomous snake species and definitely not capable of killing a human. The මාපිලා, or cat snake, is rear-fanged and hence it is impossible to even make a proper bite.

Another huge misconception is that the trinket snake or commonly known as the කට කලුවා has venom that would cause discoloration of the whole body including urine and saliva. What is more? The trinket snake, after biting a person, would wait to confirm its victim’s death, and then only it would leave. The truth is that this diurnal snake is nothing but a non-venomous constrictor species of Colubrid snakes. When cornered, the trinket snake expands its mouth displaying the blackness of it. Hence the vernacular name “කට කලුවා”, the one with a black mouth.

Despite myths to the contrary, snakes bite humans purely as a defensive response. The snake’s survival does not depend on motherhood, caring, or nurturing. All there is the pure survival instinct in that scale-covered head. They have no resolution to strike you specifically to a body part or consume you whole or whatsoever. Mostly all snakes usually depend on rodents, frogs, and lizards. Have you ever given a thought about these compelling creatures’ feeding mechanisms? These hissy-slithery reptiles do not have the right kind of teeth to chew their prey, so they eat their catch whole.

To swallow the prey, the skull of the snakes is differentiated in a variety of ways. The fascinating thing is that their jaw is structured in such a way that it allows the mouth to stretch wider and wider in order to swallow the prey whole, regardless of its size. These cold-blooded reptiles possess two adaptations that allow them to open their mouth abnormally wide, even larger than their own head. They are,

1. A mobile quadrate bone
2. A split lower jaw

These differentiated adaptations mean that their jaw point is situated further back in the head, making it easier for the “whole” eating process.

Having devoured its exceptionally large meal, its skin stretching to accommodate the so-called nosh, it would take days not hours for the digestion to complete. The inside of a snake’s mouth is the buccal cavity which leads to the esophagus of the snake. The peristaltic movement within the esophagus moves the food downward to the stomach. The stomach of snakes consists of digestive enzymes and gastric juices which break down the meals including bones, flesh, skin, and furs. The temperature of a snake plays a role in how quickly a snake digests its food; the warmer the temperature, the quicker the digestion. If these tongue-flickery, abyss-eyed creatures were ever in a popularity contest among other animals, they would surely lose. The reality is that people perceive snakes as animals that instill fear and hatred. But snakes too are an indispensable part who contribute for the sake of equilibrium in our ecosystems. The unfortunate plight is that the species count of these wonderful creatures is in decline. This is to the extent that some are on the brink of extinction as well, mostly due to the misconception and unawareness of the public. We must take necessary measures to conserve these mesmerizing ophidians in the years to come. You do not have to love them, but at least let them live for the sake of humanity.

By. Rtr. Ishara Nimeshi

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