The krait, a venomous snake I consider to be one of the deadliest creatures on our planet, is widely spread on the Indian subcontinent, where nine species of krait can be found. I love kraits because of their behavior and their color which is dark shiny black with thin bands of white dotted spots.

I have already written in one of my previous blogs about the common krait, bungarus caerulus, and explained why it is known to be deadly. Now I would like to write about the next member of the krait family, which is also luckily found in my city.

The Wall’s sind krait, bungarus sindanus walli,is a species of a krait with almost same features of a common krait. The best way to differentiate between these two kraits is, the Wall’s sind krait has a yellow lip and throat while the common krait has white. The maximum length of Wall’s sind krait is 5ft and it mainly feeds on other snakes, including cobras and other kraits.

I have rescued this snake only once because it is found in the outskirts of my city and rare to find during the day. Experts say this snake is more aggressive and prone to bite than the common krait. However, kraits are always attractive to me, and whenever I look at the Wall’s sind krait, its beauty makes me feel that a common krait has applied a yellow lipstick.

Photo: Riyaz Khoja