Mysuru: World Snake Day is celebrated on July 16 to know and understand many things about these reptiles, which are on the path of extinction. World Snake Day is also held to help remove people’s fear and illusion about snakes.

Mysuru Zoo celebrated World Snake Day today by creating awareness about snakes to students and general public.

Nearly 150 students from Mahajana PU College and Srikantha Girls High School visited the Zoo this morning and Zoo Education Officer N.M. Guruprasad and Naturalist Somashekar provided information about snakes and also about the myths surrounding them.

Stating that there are about 3,458 species of snakes in the world which live in different enviathe only continent without any snakes was Antarctica.

He said that there are more than 270 species of snakes in India, out of which about 60 are highly venomous and added that Karnataka is a home for more than 130 species of snakes out of which around 40 are poisonous. 

Sanake keeper Cheluvaraju said that there were more than 24 species and more than 70 snakes in the Zoo which include Reticulated Python, Indian Rock Python, Common Rat Snake, Indian Cobra, Albino Indian Cobra, King Cobra, Russel’s Viper, Rough-Scaled Sand Boa, Green Vine Snake, Striped Keel-back Snake, Bronze-back Tree Snake, Common Kukri, Indian Krait and Green Anaconda among others.

About 10 posters with messages on myths related to snakes and the facts were put up near the enclosures of snakes to educate students.