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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Dear Zach and everyone else, apologies in not being available to take questions but I've been in Papua New Guinea woorking with the Australian Venom Research Unit for a couple of months and largely out of internet contact.
Okay Zach, venom research, this is a very complex subject and I was not aware anybody had found a potential cure for Huntingdon's Disease within snake venoms. Of course there may be something there but exploring this would be extremely expensive and extremely time-consuming so sadly I don't think anybody would have an answer in time to save your uncle.
If you want to get involved in venom research at the laboratory level you will need a PhD in biochemistry or pharmacology and an attachment to a large university with suitable facilities. One person who springs to mind who is actively involved in the study of venom components is my old friend Bryan Grieg Fry, you might try posting him.
Best wishes, Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Dear Naja Nayeem, thanks for your positive comments.
I will try to answer your question about king cobra v. black mamba.
Both are extremely serious bites but the venom of the king is not as toxic as that of a common cobra, it just puts in a great deal more, so it is quantity rather than quality that kills. The black mamba delivers a smaller amount of highly toxic venom. However although both are elapids there venoms are different and comparing different venoms is like comparing different fruit, as I said in Venomous Snakes of the World, say apples, oranges, bananas, all fruit, different shapes, colours, textures, so how do you compare them? With fruit you might compare sugar levels and with venoms you compare their killing ability, their LD50 the lethal dose that kills 50% of a test group of mice, the lower the number the more toxic the venom. In this the black mamba would win over the king cobra because this is a quality, not quantity, factor, but there are Australasian snakes with venoms even more toxic than the black mamba.
I do not have any pets and do not keep reptiles at home, haven't for 15 years or more, my reptiles living at West Midland Safari Park (my UK base) www.wmsp.co.uk
My favourite lizards are the 'pukpuk palaia' Tribolonotus gracilis and the monkey-tail skink Corucia zebrata.
I have been to Bangladesh, briefly enroute to Nepal in the early 1990s. The Sunderbans are a great place to get eaten by either a tiger or a saltwater crocodile. The nearest I have been to the Sunderbans was the Bhitakarnika swamps of Orissa, northeast India (OBA3 "The Cobra's Revenge")
Best,
Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Dear Reed
I know Candoia aspera very well, in fact I caught (and released) two on Karkar Island, Papua New Guinea just about 10 days ago. I must have seen dozens there during my visits, they are very common and the locals call them "lazy snakes". My colleage David Williams has a large one living free in the venomous snake rooms in the Australian Venom Research Unit snake unit in Port Moresby.
As for where to get one and how much to pay, I really do not know as I have nothing to do with buying or selling of snakes, especially wild caught snakes and I figure most of the ground or viper boas available have come in from Indonesian West Papua.
Venomous training, why rush in, get more experince with nonvenomous snakes first, there are plenty of fascinating nonvenomous snakes to work with before you take the plunge. Here in the UK people have problems getting hot experience because no zoos insurance will cover non-staff and we have a long training period for our reptile house staff. I recently attended a workshop on venomous exotics at Melbourne Zoo and the talk was of who were suitable people to work with venomous reptiles. Level headed people without egos, who are mature on outlook if not necessarily in years, were much preferred by the professional zoo personal.
hope this helps, Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Hi Frenchfry,
I used to keep Boiga dendrophila and quite a few other Boiga in the old days. The Malaysian B.d.melanota was a much more robust and larger form than the Borneo B.d.annectans one sees today but none of these snakes are as common in the UK collections as in the past when they were kept by everyone. For a while they were restricted by our Dangerous Wild Animals Act but I think they may have come off or are coming off the bill.
With their fast reactions, big mouths, chewing bites and long reach I think they are a good substitute for a highly venomous snake, you will certainly learn to move quickly at feeding time with a 6 or 7ft specimen coming out of its cage. There are numerous articles in the 1970-80s herp literature on keeping them in captivity, I even wrote something myself back then. Sexing them, they are not rally sexually dimorphic so it is probably down to the old snake probes I'm afraid.
But take care putting them together, they can be cannibalistic.
Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Hi Ginger
It is never to late to study, it broadens the mind and gives a lot of satisfaction. I believe we live to learn and even now I am thrilled to discover something new in an area I thought I understood fully.
Subjects for herpetology, well obviously biology, also ecology to understand habitats, biochemistry and microbiology help one understand venoms and DNA, systematics allows one to understand how species are described, biogeography, how they are distributed around the world, statistics, how populations are studied, etc.
Of course, if you want to be a herpetoculturist, to keep and breed snakes, then a little genetic knowledge might be useful too.
But take it steadily and decide which aspect of herpetology interests you once you have your basic grounding, and good luck.
Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Hi Mikes19
I live in the United Kingdom and am based, some of the year, at West Midland Safari Park, where I am the Consultant Curator of Reptiles.
I only get to the USA from time to time, mostly to the various NARBC shows in Anaheim, Phila, Chicago, although I have been over to Daytona once and MARS Baltimore once (east coast enough for you ?)
I have not been over to any shows during 2006 and my tropical fieldwork schedule for 2007 is loking quite full so not sure if I will get over to any then either, even if I am invited !!
Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Hi Luke
What a coincidence, I've just got home from PNG but I came back via the Exotic Venomous Snake Forum at Melbourne Zoo for which I ran a venomous snake trivia quiz (which Bryan Fry won) and presented the plenary lecture on the second morning, so I was not far away.
I would be interested in writing for the Victorian Herp. Soc., it is just time and Alan Wilkie is always chasing me for articles for The Herptile - just had two articles in there and two more are in prep.
Still this is something I would consider, what would you be after and what wordage, do you pubish in colour (for photos) etc.
Perhaps you can send me over a sample of your journal.
I use the West Midland Safari Park address ie. Reptile House, West Midland Safari Park, Bewdley, Worcestershire, DY12 1LF, United Kingdom
I will send this to your address also.
Again sorry for delay in repling, was in PNG for some months.
Best wishes
Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Hello Debora,
Dry bites certainly do occur in some species.
I think sometimes the snake may be pulling its punch, knowing that the bite alone is a deterent and there is no need to waste venom, afterall the snake does not care if you live or die provided you leave it alone, and a dry bite tends to have that effect.
Some species never seem to dry bite, taipan for instance, but cobras do so frequentlt, the trouble being you simply don't know if he did or didn't.
It may be less common in vipers because the muscular process of the fangs swinging into the strike position is likely to start the process of transporting venom from the glands, down the ducts to the fangs.
What do you think ?
It is an interesting subject that has not been fully studied
Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Hi Dalton
I was interested in snakes from the age of eight when I first kept them as pets but I am not sure when I decided I wanted to be an herpetologist, it just sort of happened. I guess my 'training period' ended when I started being asked to participate in expeditions such at the Royal Geographical Society Maraca Rainforest Project in Brazil in 1987-88.
I have been to West Virginia, I filmed there with snake handler Dewey Chafin in 1999 during the making of "Nemesis" (OBA1) about timber rattlers.
Regards
Mark
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RE: Mark O'Shea Answers Questions
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by Mark_OShea on November 16, 2006
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Hi Vietherp,
There are plenty of cobras and Malayan pitvipers in Vietnam, although did not know the Malayan pitviper does not really occur in Malaysia, other than possible the extreme north, it is more an inhabitant of the dry forests and plantations of Indo-China than the more tropical rainforests of the peninsula, then it occurs again in dry Javan woodlands. Your questions:
1. You are quite correct, the entire region is a cobra cross roads with spitting common cobras, non-spitting common cobras, and kings present and apart from the fairly obvious king cobra, the others can be difficult to distinguish apart. Unfortunately the hood markings are not all that helpful either. Wolfgang Wuster and I recently looked at the hood of a cobra in a photo sent by someone in India (I think it was) who thought it was a new species, but it wasn't. Basically I think the common cobras of Vietnam are Naja atra, Naja kaouthia and Naja siamensis. The expert is of course Wolfgang, he revised the entire Naja complex in Asia in a series of important papers - you can check out his site at
http://biology.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/update.htm
2. I honesty cannot tell you the cobra's altitudinal record but being oviparous they are less well adapted to cool conditions than the viviparous vipers. Cobras are also opportunistic feeders, I reckon they may take eggs sometimes but some snake charmers force feed their snakes nothing but eggs and that does not do them any good.
3. You are correct again, Russell's viper is not reported from Vietnam.
4. Information on cobras in Asia, the best source will be the taxonomic papers by Wolfgang so check out his site listed above. There are several good regional guides to snakes in SE Asia and even that war-era book on snakes of Vietnam by Campden-Main but there is also a recent book (in German) on Vietnam herps by Thomas Zeiger, pub. by Natur und Tier Verlag. I also have a little book on snakes of Vietnam in Vietnamese.
5. I don't know who you mean but I too have met numerous spitters and during filming I met with them in S.Africa and Indonesia.
6. My series' were never produced on vhs or dvd so all you can do is tape it when you see it - sorry, best I can offer.
Enjoy the diverse snake fauna of Vietnam
Best wishes
Mark
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