Rare species of cat snake spotted in Dharmasthala

Rare species of cat snake spotted in Dharmasthala

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, May 29, 2022: The venomous Forsten’s cat Snake, commonly found in Western Ghats was spotted at the residence of Damodar in Dharmasthala of Belthangady Taluk in the District.

The 7 feet long snake was caught on May 27th by Snake Ashok Laila of Belthangady and he later released it to the forest.

The snake species was named after Dutch naturalist Eltio Alegondas Forsten who worked mainly in southeast Asia; several bird and reptile species are named after him.

Forsten’s cat snake is commonly found in Western Ghats, and in Uttarakhand, western Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. This snake is nocturnal and one of the biggest cat snakes; it hangs on to trees and shrubs to look out for its prey. It feeds mainly on lizards, birds and even birds’ eggs. Six years ago Snake Ashok had caught Forsten’s Cat snake at Kindaje in Laila Village for the first time. This is the second time he has got lucky.