Experimenting with interests: Field herpetogolgy

Ever wonder how many species of snakes are there in India? Of them, how many have been recorded in Gujarat?? have you ever been curious as to how to ensure the sex of a snake?? Which animals are reptiles beyond a frog, snake and lizard??...Well, most of us do not ask these questions too frequently to ourselves..We are not herpers, after all!!!

I thought of giving it a try after a few nature/wildlife photography workshops and went on to attend my first field herpetology workshop with Bike n Hike on 8-9 September 2012. Herpetology, for the non-herpers- is study of reptiles. Reptiles in Gujarati are called સરીસૃપ and includes turtles, frogs, salamander, snakes, lizards etc.

Source: http://commons.wikivet.net/images/thumb/c/c2/Lizard_taxa.JPG/400px-Lizard_taxa.JPG

Journey

Window to the world

To adjust my interests within budget, I opted to travel by local train to our base i.e. Thangadh. The adventure started from the station itself as I reached to Sabarmati station from the Dharamnagar side and was told that Saurashtra bound trains leave from the other side i.e. D-cabin side of the station. Following the trail of the railway track, I walked for around 20 minutes and after using the old foot over-bridge, I managed to reach the other side. The train journey was quite interesting; Gaurav Singh and I spent first two hours on the top floor with view of fans of entire coach!! However, the last one hour, we decided to change the view and occupied the sideways around the gate and what a view of bright sun light and clouds in the horizon.

Travel, especially in unreserved train, provides opportunities of fantastic observations and learning of human behavior too...I was fresh from a five-day Human Process Lab (HPL) and loaded with various behavioral related learning. We witnessed a spat between a young couple; although could not understand the content of the issue, the form was indicating anguish and pain in the disturbed relationship..well, when I can't intervene, I can pray. so did I before getting down at the Than station. Tiny station; after departure of the train and the noise thereof reminded me of a set where most of train chasing happens in Bollywood movies.

We were hungry and started searching for our annanpoorna; while asking the local vendors about food availability, one young guy indicated we should go to the main market. He said, અહિયા તો સાદુ મળશે, તમારા માટે નહિ હોય ..I responded him, 'અમેય સાદા જ છીએ'..And we went to the nearby only place - Bholanath Restaurant. The shop provided basic but delicious lunch with unlimited buttermilk. Post lunch on our way to our base, we stopped for soda and realised like Bholanath, this shop too had a photograph of a snake. We learned from the shopkeeper that the snake-god is local diety and protector of the town. Most of the shops will have a photo of this 'Vaasuki dada'..Excitement enhanced..we were in the land of snakes!

Theoretical Learning

Our learning about herpetology started with a presentation on taxonomy of snakes. Vipul Ramanuj was well-equipped with not only knowledge but also with tools to be used in the field. While there was a laptop loaded with information, there were around 6 books and quite a few binders with reading resources. There definitely was a structure to this workshop and it was indeed a methodical one!

Taxonomy is a discipline of defining groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics and giving them names. A person who does it all is called taxonomist. And remember, naturalist and conservationist are different than taxonomist and they although share similar interests, may differ in their roles.  Taxonomist cannot primarily conserve as his/her prime interest is in preserving a specimen for record,and to do that he would need to kill the 'subject' so as to prepare a specimen. This very killing is against the idea of conservation!! talk of necessary evil acts!! These records, which are to be kept in museums,  are called voucher specimen; the main one is called paratype and sub (second) is called holotype specimen. (I think this needs more verification as Wikipedia writing is also confusing to me)!! The classical work on this in India are a)  Fauna of British India and Reptiles of British India.

Taxonomic keys are the devices/methods use to identify the family of reptiles. For snakes, following are four ways to identify a snake species viz. a) Scalation i.e. scale counting, b) Dentition i.e. formation and count of teeth, and c) Sexing i.e. Identification of sex of the snakes through ensuring presence/absence of hemipenis/es, and d) DNA bar coding techniques using buckle swab. Smithsonial tropical research institute in barro colorado  island has bar coded all living forms on the island (Link here). Some other things to observe are type of  scales (smooth (cobra) or leafy (saw scale vipe)), Presence of pits, and type of pupils. For scalation, the boy of snake can be divided in three areas viz. head, body and tail. Head scales could be occular (around eyes), labial (around lips), mental (upperside of head). Similarly on the body they are called vertebral or ventral scales. Around the tail, they are called subcaudal scales. (ooof..too much to understand and remember!!!)

Few examples of how to identify certain species: The one common way to identify cobra is the hood, which no other species have ability to do ( ofcourse, checkered keelback can create falsehood!!). King Cobra  has two large occipital scales (arrow like) through which it can be differentiated from cobra (Naja Naja).

What to carry in the field?

This was the highlight of the theory session before heading to the field. I got to know of quite a few things to carry in the field that I could never would have imagined. Below is the list:

1. Bottles, Jars, Bags to carry specimen


2. Grab stickes


3. Hook for vipers (why only for vipers??)


4. Tweezers (ચીપિયો)


5. Magnifying glass ( can be at the base too)


6.  Torch


7. Head lamp (comes very handy. Surely going to be my next investment)


8. Gloves, latex (?)


9. Calibrated GPS


10. Loads of Batteries


11. Swiss knife


12. UV light (for scorpion) 


13. Probe/s to sex the snake


14. Restraining Tube (to hold especially venomous/agitated snake)


15. Crepe bandage for snake bite first aid


16. food


17. water


18. Money


19. Companion (NEVER TO GO ALONE IN THE FIELD)

Methods

Few methods used in spotting the subjects in the field are:

• Quadrate searches


• Road cruising


• Road crossing


• Marking


• Trapping


• Line transversing 

One needs to standardize a) Timing, b) Weather, and c)Location while doing field work so as to ensure validity of the data.

In the field - day 1

We packed our dinner and started for the field in the dark (literally and notionally too). The teaching was still on inside the car and the moment we took turn from the main road, we were instructed to try and do road cruising i.e. be attentive on the road so as to spot live/killed reptiles. But luck lady had slept much earlier and we could not spot a single snake in what is believed to be saw scale country!

After getting out of the vehicle, we started walking around the field with single instruction to look for some activity and spot nocturnal reptile. I was thrilled and anxious as it was my first such experience and that too in the dark. I learn my first lesson; Good torch is a must!!  

We walked and explored the space in the darkness and could find two geckos. With this spot, it was also time to understand bit of sexing of the geckos. So, we circled around and Vipul explained us a bit of anatomy of the geckos. Sure shot way is to locate hemipenile bulges on the either side of the bulges of the tail. We could identify the bulges and made sure this one was male!!!

'Dark' lessons in herpetology : session in the field during night trek

 After exploring for another an hour or so and learning about toads, scorpions, geckos, lizards,  and six spotted beetle, we climbed a hillock and there was our rendezvous with serenity and stillness. Some fifteen minutes of darkness and silence was amazing. No words, no lights and time with oneself looking at the horizons..a vehicle crossed at the distance disturbing the silence,and Vipul informs us that this area is slightly unsafe with experiences of looting on the road in dark hours!!

On the way back to our vehicle, without spotting a single snake, was also eventful. We spotted Indian night jar through its chirping first; however, two attempts of catching it failed and we moved on to our vehicle. On the way back road cruising was still on although I was dozing off a bit. And finally, we could locate one saw scaled viper on the road. Vipul and Snake..at least one has to be there and it was!!

Back at the base,our companion and Bike n Hike host Catherene warmed the dinner up and we had our - what Vipul called luxurious - field dinner at 1:30 p.m. With an instruction of getting up at 6:30, we went to bed at around 2 am.

Day 2

Day time field was more exciting for me as I could see better. After finishing breakfast, we moved on to our day 2 location. Beautiful skyline, nice pelicans spotted on the way, we reached the spot, disembarked and continued our spotting expedition. Fresh from mild drizzling, the field was slightly wet, slightly warm but very welcoming. My first click was that of a nice butterfly, and as it was not a reptile, I don't bother about its taxonomy!!!

Butterfly that made me smile after bad clicks during last night's trek

Following this, we walked and walked through arid and rocky terrains looking
for something interesting, something that crawls. We lifted the stones to find
scorpion, we scanned through crevice and located a honey comb, we explored bushes
to locate a monitor lizard, and the fun went on and on for around two and half
hours or so…

Landscape and the herpers!!

Spotting nice mushrooms and fungus on the way, and having rested at what seemed like a mirage amidst the arid land - a vasuki dada temple and Mandav camp site - we headed towards watch tower. While clicking mushrooms, I also got lot more tips about subject photography, use of flash, use of exposure etc..

Shades of fungi!!!

Watch tower view was fantastic and we could also had goodish amount of time exploring space, landscape, lights and rains!!

Landscape in monochrome!!

And then there was this wild time witnessing Vipul trying to capture wide macro image of  a cobra. The snake was agitated bit and it was for the first time that I watched it so close and heard it hiss for so long breathing heavily..wow, what a half an hour so spent sitting still so as not to disturb the subject!! Dedication of photographer and its assistant can be seen in the snap below. I could also witness the use of restrained tube in the process!!

The subject is behind Vipul; the cap is a distraction!!

At around 3 pm we headed back to our base in Than. Our checklist was added with Small Minivet, a Skink and a Cormorant, and we were full with loads of memories, amazing learning and handful (or cardfull??) of images!!!

Great time indeed. Great learning and loads of fun. More images of the reptiles and experiences of spotting them in my next blog!!



Below are collage of reptiles that were spotted and another one of the candid moments of the team of spotters!!

Reptiles and a butterfly

Herpers and herping enthusiasts

"If you want to attend such workshops and experiences like these please get in touch with www.facebook.com/bikenhikeindia or Vipul Ramanuj (9825714841)

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Trivia:

Some well known herpetologists/taxonomist in India are:

• Ashok Captain


• Varad Giri


•  Ishan Agraval


• Arun Gor


• Mrinalini (especially for her work on saw scaled viper)


• Pratyush Patankar


• and of course, Rom Whitaker!!

Four venomous (and not poisonous) snakes found in India are:

•  નાગ (Cobra) 


• કાળોતરો  (Krait)


• ચીતળો  (Russel Viper) 


• ફૂરસો  (Saw Scaled viper)