Guwahati: The Manas National Park in Assam now has 40 newly hatched reticulated pythons, in what is claimed to be the first instance of the reptiles being hatched in such numbers in a natural habitat under human care.

The rare moments of hatching in the World Heritage Site have been captured on camera. At least 40 more were likely to be born by Saturday night.

The eggs were shifted to a site created with wood dust and rice husk, replicating the natural habitat where two pythons laid around 100 eggs till June 5 and left.

Activists of the Manas Mouzigendri Eco-Tourism Society, who found them, shifted the eggs under the guidance of wildlife film-maker Gautom Saikia, and the authorities of the park and the Bodoland Territorial Council.

Mr. Saikia is camping there along with the volunteers of the non-governmental organisation for 46 days to capture the process. He told The Hindu from inside the core area of the park that the baby pythons were yet to come out of their shells fully.

Three cameras were being used, one of them placed as close as 60 cm. They had noticed ants and insects destroying about 20 eggs, and created the temporary habitat and shifted the eggs there to protect them. Mosquito nets were used to keep flies at bay.

Of the two adults, the smaller one was more than 7.5 metres long and the bigger one more then 9 m. Reticulated pythons (Python reticulates) are the longest of all the pythons with a recorded maximum length of 10 m.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail