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Checkered Keelback
Fowlea piscator
22.6267, 88.3658
Field Notes
Description:
Not yet fully grown. Non-venomous but famously ill-tempered and bites. Check-like pattern all over body in variations of green, yellow and brown.
Habitat:
Freshwater lake where there are lots of fishes and lately, a few lotus plants. This lake has been cleared of water hyacinths and now, I see lots of Cormorants, Herons, Egrets and Kingfishers, even a couple of Moorhens!
Notes:
Many years ago, our maid's kid daughter was washing dishes in this lake (they live on its edge and use the water for everything.). A Keelback was attracted to the rice grains falling off the dishes and swam close. Irritated by her splashings, it bit her. She told me the story herself, a few days later. I was very concerned (asking about anti-venin/ anti-tetanus shots etc.) and she waved me off saying, "it is a very ill-tempered snake and is always biting someone or the other when we go to wash dishes after our meals." I have never forgotten her nonchalance and my shock.
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