A King Cobra Bite -- and a Scientific Discovery | Gowri Shankar | TED

[TED Fellows]

[Shape Your Future]

(King cobra growl)

That’s the beautiful growl of the world’s longest venomous snake:

the king cobra.

They’re the only snakes that build a nest to incubate their eggs.

Apt to their scientific name, Ophiophagus hannah,

meaning a snake-eater, they eat other snakes,

including their own kind.

Growing up to five meters,

they possess enough venom to kill 10 people in a single bite,

or even an elephant.

King cobras might be intimidating to most people,

but I was always fascinated by them.

I've been studying this legendary species for the last 20 years.

Fifteen years ago,

I was bitten by a king cobra while rescuing it from a house,

which otherwise would have been killed.

There is no antivenom for Indian king cobra,

so I was certain I would die in about 30 minutes.

The bite was in my hand.

The pain was moving up my arm towards the heart.

The pain was so excruciating

that I actually begged the team to just let me die

rather than stay in agony.

I remembered I had stocked a few vials of antivenom from Thailand,

meant for Thailand king cobra,

which I decided to experiment with on myself.

But the Thai antivenom failed,

and we had to stop the treatment.

But here I am, a ghost?

No, the king was kind.

It injected a very small quantity of venom into my hand,

which wasn't enough to kill me.

My mother hoped

that this near-death experience would finally stop my snake obsession.

But no.

For those three painful days at the hospital,

all I wondered was if the king cobra was one species, as science believed,

then why didn't the Thailand antivenom work on me?

It became apparent that we were missing something.

King cobra was first described scientifically in 1836,

after which many speculated there could be different species,

but no one had ever established it.

This became my research topic.

For seven years after the bite,

I traveled across king cobra habitat in South and Southeast Asia.

And this is what I found.

King cobras, despite being the most curious, majestic snakes

are disliked, feared and hated by most people on the planet.

They're killed on sight for food, poached for skin,

for traditional medicinal purpose and for pet trade.

And of course, their habitats are under severe threat,

like many other species.

But we also found an answer

to this 185-year-old question of species complex.

My research has shown that king cobra is actually four distinct species,

not one, as everyone thought.

Now that is why the Thailand antivenom did not work on me.

So what does this finding mean?

I found king cobras differed from each other

by one to four percent genetic makeup.

So what does this discovery mean for the king cobra?

Well, imagine there's a tsunami or an epidemic on an island

inhabited by a particular species of king cobra.

We could lose that whole species.

In other words, one habitat destruction is the loss of an entire species

we have yet to understand.

Resolving species confusion is highly important

for the conservation planning, biological control,

treatment of diseases and snakebite.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List

of Threatened Species,

king cobras are not given much attention.

My discovery calls for an urgent reassessment of each species status

and conservation efforts.

As a direct conservation measure,

we at Kalinga Foundation rescue king cobras from distressed situations.

So far, we have rescued close to 375 king cobras,

monitored about 50 plus king cobra nests

and helped release over 500 hatchlings

back into their natural habitat.

We partner with communities

and invest in creating awareness among local people,

especially kids, who urge their parents to choose rescue over killing.

We encourage students to participate in our research

and conduct capacity-building training for snake rescuers and forest officials.

King cobras are potential flagship species among snakes.

Declaring it as such will be a big win for the species,

to my senior scientists and the forest they inhabit.

What is interesting is these are the same tropical forests

of South and Southeast Asia,

which has seven of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots.

And these also contribute 68 percent to the global carbon sink.

In other words, my team and I are doing all we can

to say what we now know are four species,

and I welcome you to join us in conserving the beautiful king cobra.

Thank you.