Month: August 2021

Venomous (Neurotoxic)
Common Name: Common Indian cobra/ Spectacled cobra
Odia Name: ନାଗ
Zoological Name: Naja naja
Family: Elapidae
WL(P)A – Schedule – I

Scales smooth, glossy. Head broad. Colour, pattern, and hood mark variable; hood mark sometimes absent. The famous “spectacled” marking (or variations) on hood usually makes identification easy. The dark or black pattern-less Spectacled Cobras are frequently mistaken for the Central Asian Cobra.

Look-alikes: Indian Rat Snake
Banded Racer

Venomous (Neurotoxic)
Common Name: Monocellate cobra 
Odia Name: ତମ୍ପ
Zoological Name: Naja kaouthia
Family: Elapidae
WL(P)A – Schedule – I

Scales smooth, glossy. Head broad. Colour, pattern, and hood mark variable. Shades of brown, yellow, grey or black, uniform or with ragged yellowish cross-bands. An eye-shaped or “O” shaped hood mark almost always present (sometimes faint, rarely broken up). Hood rounder and smaller than that of Spectacled Cobra.

Look-alikes: Some spectacled cobras

Venomous (Neurotoxic)
Common Name: Common Krait 
Odia Name: ଚିତି
Zoological Name: Bungarus caeruleus
Family: Elapidae
WL(P)A – Schedule – II

Smooth-scaled.Glossy black, pale faded bluish-grey or dark brownish-black above(often with blue iridescence) with narrow (sometimes paired) white cross-linesthat continue to pointed tip of short tail.These lines usually absent on forebody orthey are replaced by white vertebral spots. Mid-dorsal scale hexagonal (6 sided). Often confused with many wolf snakes. A nocturnal snake.

Look-alikes: Common wolf snake
Barred wolf snake
Bridal snake