King Cobras Found Near Mt Everest, Here's Why Experts Are Worried
King Cobra is the world's longest venomous snake. Its venom is not the most potent among venomous snakes, but the amount it releases in a single bite is powerful enough to kill 20 people or an elephant.
Here's why their presence near Mount Everest is concerning
King cobras and Monocled cobras, both snakes, are mostly found in the Tarai regions in parts of southern Nepal and northern India. As the temperature continues to rise, they are now found nesting in hilly and mountainous areas as well.
"Those snakes were rescued from houses and compounds with the help of a snake rescuer and were released in the nearby forest. Locals have also found King Cobra eggs and nests in nearby jungles," Jaya Thapa Magar, chair of the municipality's ward 1, told The Kathmandu Post.
The experts are worried as the presence of these snakes in colder regions could be because of climate change, with experts suggesting that rising temperatures might be driving these tropical snakes to higher altitudes. If this change continues, it will impact the region's ecosystem.
Subodh Acharya, a snake rescue trainer from Mithila Wildlife Trust, Janakpur, told the outlet, "These snakes might have come to the Valley with logs and hay in trucks, but have already made habitats here."
The rescued venomous snakes have been released there, with Mr Acharya urging people to be vigilant while they are in the forests.
Climate change in Nepal
In the past few years, Nepal has witnessed extreme weather events linked to climate change. The maximum temperature in Nepal is rising at a rate of 0.05 degrees Celsius per year.
King cobras are listed as vulnerable in the National Red Data Book of Nepal and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Habitat destruction, human conflict and snakebites are significant threats to king cobra populations. A report published in March 2022 in The Lancet, which is a leading international medical journal, highlighted that incidents of snakebite and resulting deaths are common in the Tarai districts during the summer. Each year, approximately 2,700 people, mostly children and women from Nepal's Tarai region, lose their lives because of snakebites.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
a day ago
- NDTV
New Technique Could Stop Chemo-Related Hair Loss, Offering Hope To Cancer Patients
A promising new method may offer hope to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy who want to retain their hair. Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have identified a powerful combination of scalp cooling and antioxidant treatment that significantly reduces hair loss. Scalp cooling, already used through "cold caps", restricts blood flow to the scalp, reducing the amount of chemotherapy drugs reaching hair follicles. The new study found that cooling the scalp to an optimal temperature of 18 degrees Celsius can effectively prevent follicle damage. Additionally, applying antioxidant-rich lotions-some ingredients found in red grapes-further boosts the protective effect. This dual approach has been described by researchers as a "milestone" in preserving hair during cancer treatment and could revolutionise patient care in oncology clinics. Dr Nik Georgopoulos, associate professor of cell biology at Sheffield Hallam, described hair loss as "the face of cancer". "Our findings suggest that the combination of cooling and antioxidants could be a game-changer in preventing chemotherapy-induced hair loss and could make a real difference to the lives of cancer patients worldwide." "It highlights the potential for a more effective and accessible solution to a common and highly distressing side effect of cancer treatment. By improving the quality of life for these patients, this method represents a significant advancement in supportive cancer care," he said. Researchers published their findings in Frontiers in Pharmacology, where they isolated hair follicles from the scalp and grew them in a lab setting. The team then treated these follicles with chemotherapy and discovered that cooling the cells helped protect them from damage, according to Dr Georgopoulos. According to a news release by Sheffield Hallam University, approximately 65% of people undergoing chemotherapy experience hair loss. It is one of the most feared side effects of chemotherapy, with 47% of female cancer patients considering it the most traumatic aspect of their treatment.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Burning of fossil fuels caused 1,500 deaths in recent European heat wave, study estimates
Washington: Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week's European heat wave , a first-of-its-kind rapid study found. Those 1,500 people "have only died because of climate change, so they would not have died if it would not have been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century," said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College in London. Scientists at Imperial and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed techniques to calculate that about 2,300 people in 12 cities likely died from the heat in last week's bout of high temperatures, with nearly two-thirds of them dying because of the extra degrees that climate change added to the natural summer warmth. Past rapid attribution studies have not gone beyond evaluating climate change's role in meteorological effects such as extra heat, flooding or drought. This study goes a step further in directly connecting coal, oil and natural gas use to people dying. "Heat waves are silent killers and their health impact is very hard to measure," said co-author Gary Konstantinoudis, a biostatistician at Imperial College. "People do not understand the actual mortality toll of heat waves and this is because (doctors, hospitals and governments) do not report heat as an underlying cause of death" and instead attribute it to heart or lung or other organ problems. Of the 1,500 deaths attributed to climate change, the study found more than 1,100 were people 75 or older. Climate change made a heat wave hotter "It's summer, so it's sometimes hot," study lead author Ben Clarke of Imperial College said in a Tuesday news conference. "The influence of climate change has pushed it up by several degrees and what that does is it brings certain groups of people more into dangerous territory and that's what's important. That's what we really want to highlight here. For some people it's still warm fine weather but for now a huge sector of the population it's more dangerous." Researchers looked at June 23 to July 2 in London; Paris; Frankfurt, Germany; Budapest, Hungary; Zagreb, Croatia; Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Madrid; Lisbon, Portugal; Rome; Milan and Sassari, Italy. They found that except in Lisbon, the extra warmth from greenhouse gases added 2 to 4 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) to what would have been a more natural heat wave. London got the most at nearly 4 degrees (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit). Climate change only added about a degree to Lisbon's peak temperature, the study calculated, mostly because of the Atlantic Ocean's moderating effect, Otto said. That extra climate-change-caused heat added the most extra deaths in Milan, Barcelona and Paris and the least in Sassari, Frankfort and Lisbon, the study found. The 1,500 figure is the middle of the range of overall climate-related death estimates that go from about 1,250 to around 1,700. How scientists weigh climate change, calculate deaths Wednesday's study is not yet peer-reviewed. It is an extension of work done by an international team of scientists who do rapid attribution studies to search for global warming's fingerprints in the growing number of extreme weather events worldwide, and combine that with long-established epidemiological research that examines death trends that differ from what's considered normal. Researchers compared what the thermometers read last week to what computer simulations say would have happened in a world without planet-warming greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use. Health researchers then compared estimates - there are no solid figures yet - for heat deaths in what just happened to what heat deaths would be expected for each city without those extra degrees of warmth. There are long-established formulas that calculate excess deaths differing from normal based on location, demographics, temperatures and other factors and those are used, Otto and Konstantinoudis said. And health researchers take into account many variables like smoking and chronic diseases, so it's comparing similar people except for temperature so they know that's what's to blame, Konstantinoudis said. Studies in 2021 generally linked excess heat deaths to human-caused climate change and carbon emissions, but not specific events like last week's hot spell. A 2023 study in Nature Medicine estimated that since 2015, for every degree Celsius the temperature rises in Europe, there's an extra 18,547 summer heat deaths. Studies like Wednesday's are "ending the guessing game on the health harms from continued burning of fossil fuels," said Dr Jonathan Patz, director of the Centre for Health, Energy and Environmental Research at the University of Wisconsin. He was not part of the research but said it "combined the most up-to-date climate and health methods and found that every fraction of a degree of warming matters regarding extreme heat waves." Dr Courtney Howard, a Canadian emergency room physician and chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said, "Studies like this help us see that reducing fossil fuel use is health care." (AP) SCY SCY
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business Standard
Fossil fuel combustion caused 1,500 deaths in European heat wave: Study
Researchers compared what the thermometers read last week to what computer simulations say would have happened in a world without planet-warming greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use AP Washington Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week's European heat wave, a first-of-its-kind rapid study found. Those 1,500 people have only died because of climate change, so they would not have died if it had not been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century, said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College in London. Scientists at Imperial and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed techniques to calculate that about 2,300 people in 12 cities likely died from the heat in last week's bout of high temperatures, with nearly two-thirds of them dying because of the extra degrees that climate change added to the natural summer warmth. Past rapid attribution studies have not gone beyond evaluating climate change's role in meteorological effects such as extra heat, flooding or drought. This study goes a step further in directly connecting coal, oil and natural gas use to people dying. Heat waves are silent killers, and their health impact is very hard to measure,? Said co-author Gary Konstantinoudis, a biostatistician at Imperial College. People do not understand the actual mortality toll of heat waves, and this is because doctors, hospitals and governments do not report heat as an underlying cause of death, and instead attribute it to heart, lung or other organ problems. Of the 1,500 deaths attributed to climate change, the study found more than 1,100 were people 75 or older. Climate change made a heat wave hotter It's summer, so it's sometimes hot," study lead author Ben Clarke of Imperial College said in a Tuesday news conference. The influence of climate change has pushed it up by several degrees, and what that does is it brings certain groups of people more into dangerous territory, and that's what's important. That's what we want to highlight here. For some people, it's still warm, fine weather, but for now, a huge sector of the population, it's more dangerous." Researchers looked at June 23 to July 2 in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Germany, Budapest, Hungary, Zagreb, Croatia; Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Madrid; Lisbon, Portugal; Rome; Milan and Sassari, Italy. They found that, except in Lisbon, the extra warmth from greenhouse gases added 2 to 4 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) to what would have been a more natural heat wave. London got the most at nearly 4 degrees (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit). Climate change only added about a degree to Lisbon's peak temperature, the study calculated, mostly because of the Atlantic Ocean's moderating effect, Otto said. That extra climate-change-caused heat added the most extra deaths in Milan, Barcelona and Paris and the least in Sassari, Frankfurt and Lisbon, the study found. The 1,500 figure is the middle of the range of overall climate-related death estimates that go from about 1,250 to around 1,700. How scientists weigh climate change, calculate deaths Wednesday's study is not yet peer-reviewed. It is an extension of work done by an international team of scientists who do rapid attribution studies to search for global warming's fingerprints in the growing number of extreme weather events worldwide, and combine that with long-established epidemiological research that examines death trends that differ from what's considered normal. Researchers compared what the thermometers read last week to what computer simulations say would have happened in a world without planet-warming greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use. Health researchers then compared estimates there are no solid figures yet for heat deaths in what just happened to what heat deaths would be expected for each city without those extra degrees of warmth. There are long-established formulas that calculate excess deaths differing from normal based on location, demographics, temperatures and other factors, and those are used, Otto and Konstantinoudis said. And health researchers take into account many variables like smoking and chronic diseases, so it's comparing similar people except for temperature, so they know that's what's to blame, Konstantinoudis said. Studies in 2021 generally linked excess heat deaths to human-caused climate change and carbon emissions, but not specific events like last week's hot spell. A 2023 study in Nature Medicine estimated that since 2015, for every degree Celsius the temperature rises in Europe, there's an extra 18,547 summer heat deaths. Studies like Wednesday's are ending the guessing game on the health harms from continued burning of fossil fuels, said Dr. Jonathan Patz, director of the Centre for Health, Energy and Environmental Research at the University of Wisconsin. He was not part of the research but said it combined the most up-to-date climate and health methods and found that every fraction of a degree of warming matters regarding extreme heat waves. Dr Courtney Howard, a Canadian emergency room physician and chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, said, Studies like this help us see that reducing fossil fuel use is health care. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
