- A team of researchers has discovered a new species of ‘cat snake’ in Maharashtra’s Western Ghats —making it the first such discovery in 125 years.
- A research paper describing the new species was published in the journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) .
- The newly discovered species has been named Boiga thackerayi or Thackeray’s cat snake. It is named after Tejas Thackeray, the younger son of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, for his contribution to the find.
Boiga thackerayi sp. nov – Thackeray’s cat snake, a new species with Tiger like stripes on it’s body from the Sahyadri tiger reserve in Maharashtra! pic.twitter.com/gkdKjOpih4
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) September 26, 2019
- The new species is non-venomous and is known to grow up to 890 mm (approximately 3 feet) in length.
- The species is active at night and is known to feed on the eggs of Humayun’s Night Frog.
- As per the researchers, this behaviour was never reported in cat snakes from the Western Ghats before. Interestingly, this snake also favours only arboreal frogs, which is also a unique behaviour.
- The new species is only known in a few localities near Koyna in Satara district, but could be widely distributed.
