Rare albino cobra

Visitors flock to the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust in the Indian city of Chennai because of the remarkable beauty of Goya, an albino cobra.

Goya, who is a milky color with shades of pink, was a gift from Dehiwala Zoo in Sri Lanka where they specially breed albino snakes.

The three-and-a-half foot reptile was the only one of his albino siblings to survive, and is now kept on his own in a specially constructed enclosure. Goya spends most of his day indoors due to his sensitivity to light, only venturing outside for his daily meal of five live rats.

Source: Telegraph

Snake found in baby's crib

A mother visiting family on Long Island says was startled when she went to check on her seventh-month-old baby in the middle of the night and found a snake coiled around the baby's leg.

Cari Abatemarco, who lives in Troy, New York, was visiting family in Brentwood last week when she says her baby's cry woke her up.

She says the foot-long snake just fell off her baby's leg when she went to grab the infant from the crib.

Her cousin grabbed the snake and held it until animal control officer arrived.

Animal control officials say the snake is a non-venemous California King, that's is not usually found on Long Island. Local police say they are not sure where the snake came from.

Source: Newsday.com

Officer wrestles python in pet store attack

A Eugene police officer can now add snake wrestler to his list of skills after an attack on a pet store worker Thursday.

Police said they were called to the pet store on Elmira around 3:30 p.m. on a report that a 12-foot Burmese Python had latched onto the woman and wrapped itself around her.

Police Sergeant Ryan Nelson was about to use his knife to get the snake free, but the victim pleaded for the snake’s life.

Nelson and another firefighter were finally able to pry the snake’s mouth open and uncoil it after a struggle, freeing the woman. After Nelson got the snake into its cage, the huge reptile escaped and tried to attack Nelson.

The snake lost a couple of teeth in the ordeal, but no one suffered any serious injuries.

Photo from Flickr, by DashTapper

Saving lives with venom

There are thousands of venomous animal species on Earth. Just a few of the most lethal are the Gila monster, the death adder, the fugu puffer fish and the Sydney funnel web spider.

Medical researchers are finding a positive side to these dangerous creatures: the complex and highly sophisticated poisons produced by these creatures have components that might save lives rather than kill.

The PBS show, Nature, Victims of Venom, illustrates how some of the animals we fear most may one day soon be helping us solve or alleviate a wide range of life-threatening medical problems.

Venomous animals use their toxins to capture prey or defend themselves. They inflict their poisons by biting, stinging, and, in the case of some marine animals, by emitting venom into the water so it can be absorbed through the skin. The venom itself typically comprises many different substances that have various effects on their victims.

The film introduces us to carefully trained researchers around the world who are risking harm - even death - to themselves by "milking" the venom of live animals so that the various components of these poisons can be studied in great detail and better understood, perhaps preparing the way for clinical trials against a variety of diseases and medical conditions. It's not only a dangerous job but a laborious one, since only tiny amounts of venom can be extracted at a time.

Heart disease, stroke, various cancers, and the management of chronic and severe pain are other potential targets of the chemicals that comprise venom.