Daboia russelii
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Russell's viper (Daboia russelii) is a species of highly venomous snake in the family Viperidae. The species is native to South Asia. It was described in 1797 by George Shaw and Frederick Polydore Nodder. It is named after Patrick Russell. Known for its extremely painful bite, it is considered one of the "Big Four" venomous snake species in the region.
Coluber russelii was the name proposed by George Shaw who described the species in 1797 based on a specimen presented to the British Museum by Patrick Russell. Russell described the species in 1796 and confirmed its highly venomous nature by experimenting on chickens and dogs. He added that the native people called it katuka retula poda.
Analysis of morphological and mitochondrial DNA data shows that the eastern subspecies of Russell's viper should be considered a separate species, Daboia siamensis. A number of other subspecies may be encountered in literature. including: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chandigarh | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Pune | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kollam | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 8 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Mumbai | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nandankanan Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Indroda Nature Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Toledo Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Children's Park, Guindy | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Reptile Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Crocodile Bank | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Universeum | 🇸🇪 Sweden | |
| 11 | Parassinikkadavu Snake Park | 🇮🇳 India |
No species of the same family or order lives in Kochi, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Russell's Viper sighting in Kochi on a given day, based on 32 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 10th most-seen of the 23 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Russell's Viper in Kochi on a given day, against under 5% in March, October and December, the lowest months. That is one of Kochi's wettest months, with about 490 mm of rain against 15 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Russell's Viper sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
6th of 9
Of the 9 cities where we can rate Russell's Viper sightings, Kochi ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Chandigarh (India, about 30%), Coimbatore (India, about 30%) and Pune (India, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Russell's Viper is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Kochi (32 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
