HTTPS://JOURNALS.KU.EDU/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSTABLE OF CONTENTS IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSREPTILES • VOL & AMPHIBIANS15, NO 4 • DEC 2008 • 28(2):189 197–204 • AUG 2021 IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURESave ARTICLES the King: Human-King Cobra, . Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: OphiophagusOn the Road to Understanding the Ecology andhannah Conservation of the Midwest’s (Cantor Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua1836), M. Kapfer 190 . The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A HypotheticalConflicts Excursion ............................................................................................................................ and the Need forRobert W. Henderson 198 RESEARCH ARTICLES . The ConservationTexas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas .......................Strategies Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, in Krista Mougey,Nepal and Gad Perry 204 . The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida .............................................Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212 Kamal Devkota1,2, Bishnu Maharjan3, Dev Narayan Mandal4, Rohit Giri5, and Matt Goode6 CONSERVATION ALERT 1Nepal Toxinology Association, Major Chowk, Kawasoti-8, Nawalpur, Nepal ([email protected]) . World’s Mammals in 2CrisisSave The............................................................................................................................... Snakes, 2929 35th Street #5402, Sacramento, California 95817, USA.............................. 220 . More Than Mammals3Geographical ............................................................................................................................... Information Science and System, University of Salzburg, Salzburg,....................................... Austria 223 . The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225 4Mithila Wildlife Trust, Dhanusha, Nepal 5Department of Zoology, Prithvi Narayan Campus, Tribhuvan University, Pokhara, Nepal HUSBANDRY 6School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA . Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226 PROFILE Abstract.—Snake. Kraig research Adler: A Lifetime tends Promoting to have Herpetology a low ................................................................................................priority in Nepal and very little information, Michael L.mostly Treglia confined234 to popu- lations in smallCOMMENTARY areas, addresses the biology and threats to the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah). Herein we provide data that could. The facilitate Turtles Have an Been assessment Watching Me ........................................................................................................................of the species’ status in Nepal and begin to address Eric Gangloff its conservation 238 needs. We recorded data on King Cobras from 2015–2020, crosschecking with previous studies to avoid any duplication of records. ABOOK King CobraREVIEW from Siddhara, Arghakhachi District, was the first record of the species in the district. We . Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, recorded a total ofR. Berridge,50 King P. Ramani, Cobra and B.E.mortalities Young .............................................................................................................. from 20 districts, with most of them killed Robert near Powell human243 settlements adjacent to forested areas. We mapped the locations of all mortalities and recorded land-use changes within a 500-m buffer around CONSERVATIONeach site over aRESEARCH 30-year period REPORTS: (1990–2020), Summaries of Published revealing Conservation extensive Research landscape Reports ................................. fragmentation 245 in previously connected natural NATURAL areas. HISTORY Our data RESEARCH suggest REPORTS that the: major Summaries threats of Published to ReportsKing onCobras Natural History are deliberate ................................. killing 247 by humans and NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 large-scale habitat EDITORIAL loss due INFORMATION to an increasing ............................................................................................................................... human population. We recommend increased research...................... to 251better understand the biology ofFOCUS this charismatic ON CONSERVATION species : and A Project continued You Can Supportconservation ............................................................................................... education and community outreach 252 programs to facilitate the development of effective conservation strategies. he King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor 1836), is research is lacking in Nepal (Schleich and Kästle 2002; Shah Tlisted as Vulnerable (VU) onFront the Cover. International Shannon Plummer. Union and TiwariBack Cover. 2004; Michael Bhattarai Kern et al. 2018; Pandey et al. 2018), for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)Totat Red et velleseque List, because audant mo popu - andTotat snakes et velleseque are rarely audant moincluded in conservation management estibus inveliquo velique rerchil estibus inveliquo velique rerchil lations are thought to be decliningerspienimus, throughout quos accullabo. the species’ Ilibus erspienimus,plans, often quos accullabo.due to insufficientIlibus ecological data (Steen 2010). range in southern and southeasternaut Asiadolor apicto(Stuart invere et pe al. dolum 2012). Althoughaut dolor apicto the invere King pe dolum Cobra has been confirmed from 41 dis- King Cobras also have been listedfugiatis by maionsequat the Convention eumque on trictsfugiatis (Fig. maionsequat 1) of Nepaleumque (Thapa et al. 2019; Devkota et al. moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia- International Trade in Endangeredma derrovitae Species voluptam, of Wild as quos Fauna 2020;tur ma Rai derrovitae 2020; voluptam, Rawat as et al. 2020), research on the species and Flora (CITES) Appendix II.accullabo. Primary threats to King has been limited, with most confined to small areas (Schleich Cobras are thought to be habitat destruction, illegal collec- and Kästle 2002; Shah and Tiwari 2004; Bhattarai et al. tion for the skin trade, food, pets, and traditional medicines, 2018; Pandey et al. 2018; Baral et al. 2019). and persecution by humans (Stuart et al. 2012; Shankar et al. 2013; Marshall et al. 2018). The species occurs in a wide Methods variety of habitats, including forests, grassland, shrubland, From 2015–2020, we obtained data on King Cobra sight- wetlands, and in the vicinity of human habitations, such as ings while capturing and relocating snakes as part of our Save agricultural fields and rural villages (Bhaisare et al. 2010; Snakes Save Nature Programme in various districts through- Stuart et al. 2012; Barve et al. 2013). out Nepal (Fig. 2).We collected information via photographs Although many species of snakes appear to be experi- and videos obtained while interacting with local people, encing population declines (Reading et al. 2010), detailed through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), Copyright is held by the authors. Articles in R&A are made available under a 197 Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 2332-4961 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license. DEVKOTA ET AL. REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 28(2): 197–204 • AUG 2021 Fig. 1. Map of Nepal showing districts in which King Cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) have been recorded. Districts indicated by violet shading are those with published records of King Cobras; that in Atrghakhachi District (in red) is a new record reported herein. and also received photographs and videos (with associated Development (ICIMOD) (Uddin et al. 2015) and from GPS coordinates) of King Cobras that had been killed. We Google Earth (Gorelick et al. 2017). Data for mapping was recorded localities and crosschecked these data with Thapa obtained from the Department of Survey (Gyawali 2018). et al. (2019) and Baral et al. (2019) to avoid any duplication of records. We mapped locations of all King Cobra mortali- Results and Discussion ties in GIS (ArcGIS, v. 10.7), added a 500-m circular buf- Human Persecution and Development Activities.—We fer around all locations, and recorded land-use changes over recorded a total of 50 King Cobra deaths from 20 districts a 30-year period (1990–2020). We obtained land-use and (Table 1) at elevations of 100–2,094 m asl. Of the 50 King land-cover (LULC) data from the Regional Database System Cobras recorded, only two were juveniles, one from Siddhara, (RDS) of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Arghakhachi District (Fig. 3A), which was the first record of the species for the district, and one from Kulekhani, Makwanpur District (Fig. 3B). Thapa et al. (2019) reviewed and compiled a total of 37 King Cobra mortalities from various sources, including their own observations. Baral et al. (2019) recorded two mortalities from the southern Annapurna Conservation Area; Harit (2016)