Getting to Know All About Those Creepie-crawlies

Ever wanted to see and learn about those snakes close-up? This cool Snake Show lets you!

ANACONDA!
Originally uploaded by Two years of travelling.

Getting to know all about those creepie-crawlies
Visitors to the zoo in Sri Lanka can now enjoy a novel experience, a weekly snake show aimed at educating people By Malaka Rodrigo

I still remember the gypsy snake charmer who visited our village with a scary looking cobra. When he played his odd-looking flute, the cobra would start to sway, its hood spread. The gypsy claimed he had hypnotized the cobra with his music. But last weekend, sitting in Elephant Arena 1 at the Dehiwela Zoological Gardens watching the Zoo’s latest innovation, the Snake Show, I learnt that this was a myth.

“Snakes do not have external ears, so the music doesn’t inspire snakes to dance,” explained Nihal Senerath – the Dehiwela Zoo’s education officer to the large crowd gathered for the inaugural Snake Show.

The half an hour Snake Show which is held at 2.30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, is indeed a novel experience for visitors. And strangely enough, it was the enthusiasm shown by visitors for the baby Anacondas born at the Zoo last month that inspired the Zoo administrators to start the snake show.
Mr. Senarath went on to dispel many more myths that surround these misunderstood creatures. The snakes actually respond to the rhythmic shaking of the snake charmer’s right knee, and not the music, he added.

Sri Lanka is home to 98 different varieties of snakes. Only five snakes are responsible for lethal attacks, but snake bites are relatively common in remote areas.
Snakes are probably the most hated animals, even though they are an important link in our environment. Without knowing which one is poisonous and which is not, people tend to kill all creepy-crawlies. “Convincing the visitors that not all snakes are venomous is one aim of the Snake Show,” Duminda Jayaratne, Director of the Zoological Gardens said.

Read the whole article here here
and check out a great set of photos on Flickr of the Dehiwala Zoological Gardens

Slowly I crept up on the Anaconda...next on Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom"!
Originally uploaded by spurmarks.