Russell's viper caught in house, gives birth to 35 snakelets
Coimbatore: A Russell's viper, one of the most venomous snakes, gave birth to 35 snakelets in a village near here on Friday.
A resident of Kovimedu, Manoharan noticed the snake in his bathroom and sought the help of snake-catcher Murali.
Murali caught the snake and identified it as Russell's viper. He put it in a gunny bag to release it into the forest.
In a few minutes, he realized the snake was giving birth snakelets and kept the bag under a tree.
After two hours, he found 35 snakelets. The snake and its young ones would be released in the forest of Sathyamangalam in Erode district, Murali said.
While other snakes lay eggs and hatch them, Russell's viper is an ovoviviparous species giving birth to young ones by hatching the eggs internally.
The baby snakes moult as soon as they are born and are highly venomous immediately after birth.
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3.4 magnitude tremor hits Gujarat's Kutch, no damage reported
Ahmedabad, May 14 (PTI): A 3.4 magnitude tremor hit Kutch district of Gujarat on Wednesday evening, the Institute of Seismological Research (ISR) said.
No casualty or damage to property was reported due to it, a district disaster response official said.
The 3.4 magnitude tremor was recorded at 6.55 pm with its epicentre 12 km north-north east (NNE) from Bhachau in the district, the Gandhinagar-based ISR said in its update.
District authorities said no damage to property or life was reported.
Kutch district is located in a "very high risk" seismic zone, and earthquakes of lower intensity occur regularly there.
The 2001 earthquake in the district was the third largest and second most destructive in India over the last two centuries. A large number of towns and villages in the district suffered almost complete destruction, killing around 13,800 people and leaving 1.67 lakh injured.
