Meet the Rinkhals!
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- The Rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) is endemic to Southern Africa and is found only in South Africa, eSwatini, Lesotho and eastern Zimbabwe. Though it resembles a cobra (spreads a hood) it is not a true cobra and gives birth to live young. It is essentially a grassland inhabitant but is also found in fynbos in the Western Cape. It is fond of wetlands where it feeds on frogs.
When threatened it is quick to disappear down a hole, but if cornered it will stand its ground, form a hood and spit.
The Rinkhals is also quick to play dead with the body turned upside down and the mouth hanging open. The venom of this snake is largely cytotoxic causing pain, swelling and potentially tissue damage. Bites are extremely rare and fatalities virtually unheard of.
More info here: www.africansna...
That was a well behaved rinkhal
That is so COOL❤❤❤
What exactly is the relation between the lunging motion the rinkhals makes as it spits and the spitting?
I've heard authoritative sources claim that it can't quite squeeze venom out in a pressurised stream like a spitting cobra can, and so the movement helps add momentum to the venom so that it can fly at all, instead of just dripping down.
This contradicts your website however which says: "When handled they may spit without rearing up or lunging forward."
Do you have (or can you produce) any footage of a Rinkhals spitting without rearing or lunging?
I've seen some high speed footage of a rinkhals's (normal) spitting behaviour, and it seems as though it should be able to spit without the lunging motion, after all the spitting happens while the snake is still almost perfectly upright just as the lunge starts, (though unlike a spitting cobra the rinkhals clearly turns its head up completely when spitting, I assume that though both have the venom channels in the tooth turned forward for spitting, the rinkhals' teeth actually project the venom on a lower trajectory than a spitting cobra does (for which it corrects by looking up).
Most importantly, the rinkhals' lunge seems to accelerate even AFTER it has already finished spitting, if the movement had anything to do with imparting momentum to the venom you would expect that it would spit at the moment its speed peaks, not barely after it even started moving.
So I completely don't believe that the rinkhals mechanically needs to lunge in order to spit; but this poses the question: Why does it lunge if it does not need to?
It is very likely that the lunge is part of an intimidation tactic. They often hiss at the same time and will hit the ground making quite a sound. This probably helps the snake scare off a potential attacker.
We've had them spit from a snake hook without lunging and even when necking the snake had them spray venom (probably not as far as a standard spitting event) so they certainly can spit without lunging. As you mentioned, the venom is already ejected at the start of the lunge. The lunge may assist them to spray the venom over a larger area, increasing the chances of hitting the eyes. In real spitting cobras they often do a figure-of-eight motion with the head whilst spraying venom also allowing the venom to spray over a larger area and increase the chances of hitting the target.
@@africansnakebiteinstitute Thank you for the quick response.
I figured that the lunge would probably be primarily a part of the intimidation display, it's not smart to ignore an elapid lunging at you, so perhaps the spit actually an conplement to the lunge rather than the other way around.
With the fact that the venom is ejected at the start of the lunge I don't see how the lunge would have much effect on the spread of the spray, definitely nothing in the lunge after venom ejection does anything to venom spread, and that's easily 90% of the lunge.
If it looks a cobra, it is a cobra
No, its haemachatus haemachatus
❤
A really scary snake!