Zhejiang 24 hours - Qianjiang Evening News reporter Shi Wen correspondent Xu Youjia
"Last Sunday, our hospital treated several farmers who had been bitten by snakes around Hangzhou. When the weather is warm and the temperature exceeds 20 ° C, the snake will become active. ”
Yuan Chengda, a doctor in the dermatology department of Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, told the Qianjiang Evening News reporter: "The number of venomous snake bite cases admitted by the hospital every year is 700-800, and the injured people are basically surrounding farmers, generally bitten by poisonous snakes when working in the fields and mountains. ”
Many people will be afraid when they see snakes, but snakes are actually poisonous and non-venomous.
Jin Wei, an animal expert at the Zhejiang Forest Resources Monitoring Center, told Qian Bao: "There are actually very few poisonous snakes in Zhejiang, and snakes generally do not take the initiative to attack people. Everyone also knows that 'grass snakes', snakes like to be active at night, usually before we find it, it has escaped. At the same time, snakes are wild animals and are just as protected. Don't chase after the snake in the wild, so as not to provoke it to cause its own harm. ”
Zhejiang snakes, which are poisonous and which are not poisonous? Recently, Wang Yufan, an animal investigator at the Provincial Forest Resources Monitoring Center, compiled a relatively comprehensive data on poisonous snakes in Zhejiang.
If you are unfortunate enough to be bitten by a poisonous snake, the legendary treatment methods of strapping and bloodletting are not reliable, and Dr. Yuan Chengda also solved the doubts for everyone.
● Must the triangular-headed snake be poisonous?
Will the five-step snake really fall in five steps?
"The method of distinguishing between venomous snakes and non-venomous snakes, is that not simple?" Triangular-headed snakes are poisonous, blunt-headed, round-headed snakes are not poisonous! ”
Many people's understanding of snake venom has always been such a misunderstanding, in fact, the triangular head of the snake is not necessarily a venomous snake, the round head is not necessarily a non-venomous snake, to be clear you have to recognize the species.
(Photo: Wang Yufan, Zhu Ying)
"The short-tailed viper is probably the venomous snake that causes the most snake injuries in Zhejiang. It overlaps with the range of human activities, loves to live in plains or hilly fields, can swim and dive, usually hovers, is nocturnal, and attacks without warning when people are too close. ”
Wang Yufan said that this snake is easily confused with the non-venomous necked snake (pseudo-pit viper). The difference is that the short-tailed viper has a thick and short body shape, white eyebrows behind the eyes, unclosed round spots, and cheek sockets; the necked snake has a broad flat body, no white eyebrows, closed irregular spots, and no cheek sockets.
Yuan Chengda said: "Among the venomous snake bite patients admitted to our hospital, basically they were hit by short-tailed vipers, and the injured were also farmers around Hangzhou. This snake prefers to move in the farmland, when the farmer works in the field, he will accidentally step on it, the injured part is generally the end of the limbs, the poisoning performance is generally the skin swelling and pain, and the heavy will damage the liver and kidney function. This snake is not very toxic, but if the treatment time is delayed too long due to the long distance and other reasons, there is also a risk of amputation. ”
Speaking of venomous snakes, many people will think of the name of the five-step snake, which sounds so frightening to people, is the poison really so terrible?
"The five-step snake is relatively large, and its venom may be 10 times more poisonous than that of the short-tailed pit viper. However, the five-step snake poison injuries sent to our hospital have also been cured and discharged, before entering the hospital, they must have walked more than 5 steps, so, after being hit by the five-step snake venom, five steps will fall, it is really just a legend. ”
Yuan Chengda said that there was once an old lady who was hit by five-step snake venom, and when she was sent for treatment, it was 3 days after the poisoning, and the doctor found that she had symptoms of cerebral hemorrhage and was unable to return to heaven.
"Five-step snake venom will cause coagulation dysfunction, poisoned people will be bitten by the place will continue to bleed, some people themselves have systemic diseases, by the five-step snake bite will be life-threatening."
"The scientific name of the five-step snake is the viper, it is large, has black triangular spots on its body, and has a raised snout; it is nocturnal, likes to move near streams and other ground activities, and is generally distributed in mountainous areas." Wang Yufan said.
● The snake "China's first poison" is also found in Zhejiang
Does bloodletting and bundling really work after poisoning?
Among all the cases of being bitten by a venomous snake, Yuan Chenda admitted that the most important thing that needs everyone's attention is the silver ring snake venom.
"The silver-ringed snake has the nickname 'China's first venomous snake' and belongs to the genus ringed snake of the cobra family. There are five main genera in the cobra family in Zhejiang, namely cobra, king cobra, ring snake, Chinese coral snake and sea snake. ”
Wang Yufan said that the silver ring snake is distributed in Zhejiang, it likes to move near the water source, has a significantly enlarged hexagonal ridge scales, from beginning to end are clear black and white lines. However, the black-backed white ring snake, Liu's white ring snake, Fuqing white ring snake, etc. distributed in Zhejiang are similar to it, for the sake of safety, if you see black and white snakes in the wild, they are regarded as silver ring snakes.
How venomous is this snake?
Yuan Chengda said: "Silver ring snake venom is a neurotoxin, the early manifestations of the injured person is not obvious, but the local skin paralysis of the bitten part is just that it is easy to be ignored." However, after 1-2 hours of poisoning, the injured person will have blurred vision, difficulty breathing, and even the heartbeat is suppressed. As long as it is sent to the hospital for medical treatment in time, and the equipment is used to help the poisoned person recover breathing and cooperate with follow-up treatment, it can generally get out of danger. ”
What should I do if I am hit by snake venom, and does the legendary timely bloodletting and bundling really work?
First of all, the unanimous consensus that the money reporter got from the doctors and the biology studio was that snakes would not actively attack people, and please do not deliberately provoke or make it feel threatened.
The venom of venomous snakes is not the same, not every one of them will be fatal, as long as it is handled properly, it will not threaten our lives.
"Once, I received a farmer who had been bitten by a poisonous snake, and there was a blur of blood and flesh on his body that had been cut by a knife, and he said that he was giving himself poison treatment. The practice of self-mutilation and letting poison after being poisoned by snake venom is not only useless, but also causes other infections, which is really undesirable! ”
Yuan Chengda also reminded that after someone was bitten by a snake, in order to prevent the spread of toxicity, it was meaningless to tie the limbs near the wound, and there was a risk of local tissue necrosis after a long time.
"After everyone is bitten by a poisonous snake, first of all, don't panic, keep calm, pay attention not to strenuous exercise, to prevent the rapid spread of toxicity, and if you have the conditions, you should ice the wound and send it for medical treatment in time." Yuan Chengda said.
● News+
What other poisonous snakes are there on the land of Zhejiang?
In addition to the snakes mentioned above, what other poisonous snakes are there in Zhejiang, and where are they distributed?
We also got the following information from Wang Yufan, an animal investigator at the Provincial Forest Resources Monitoring Center (according to incomplete statistics) -
The white-headed viper is an extremely rare, strange-looking snake. The abrupt light-colored head is too recognizable to be confused with other snakes. Docile personality is not grumpy.
Habits: Nocturnal, mostly active in spring and autumn, mainly on the ground.
Distinguishing feature: Light-colored head.
Note: Some scholars have divided the original Chinese "white-headed viper" into two species according to morphological differences (mainly the color of the back of the head is white or black), namely the white-headed viper (or white-headed Burmese viper) Azemiops kharina and the black-headed viper (or black-headed Burmese viper) Azemiops feae. But preliminary molecular systematics studies do not support such a division, but rather support the two being the same species. That's why we're still using its original name here, "Azemiops feae". The white-headed viper distributed in China, except for parts of Yunnan Province, has a predominantly white head and back.
Taiwan's soldering iron head is the face value of the Zhejiang Viper species, of course, it is also extremely rare, mainly ground activities, and has a grumpy personality.
Habits: Nocturnal, distributed in high-altitude mountainous areas of southern and western Zhejiang.
Identification characteristics: high value (see the picture above); obviously thick and short.
Note: The species originally recorded in Zhejiang Province was "Mountain Soldering Iron Head Ovophis Monticola m. orientalis）”。 Some scholars have divided the mountain soldering iron head according to the results of molecular systematics research, in which the species distributed in Zhejiang Province has been changed to Taiwan soldering iron head Ovophis makazayazaya (the type origin is in Taiwan, China).
The proto-spearhead viper is an extremely common and dangerous snake in the province, less poisonous but extremely aggressive.
Habits: Nocturnal. It is adapted to a variety of habitats, from plains to mountains, villages to forests, ground and trees.
Distinguishing features: the head is triangular , the snout is pointed, and the top of the head is a small and dense granular scale with buccal fossa.
The proto-spearhead pit viper is very similar to the micro-venous posterior groove-toothed viper of the snake family, the Stranded Forest Snake.
The Kakuhara spearhead viper is an extremely rare small venomous snake that is currently only found in the territory of Xianju in Taizhou.
Habits: Nocturnal, dependent on large limestone volcanic rocks.
Distinguishing features: Horns formed by the extension of scales above the eye.
The Horned Viper is slightly similar to the grey stranded forest snake.
Fujian bamboo leaf green is also called Jiao tail (please see picture). Too common, but you may not notice that a green veil is the best disguise among the leaves.
Habits: Nocturnal, arboreal, haunting rocks and shrubs on both sides of streams.
Identification characteristics: Zhejiang has three kinds of snakes with green main colors, namely Fujian bamboo leaf green, emerald green snake, and gray-bellied green snake. The latter two are non-toxic and also arboreal.
Fujian bamboo leaf green (poisonous): the head and neck area is clear and thin, the head is large and triangular, there is a lateral line (red white or white), a red tail, and a cheek socket.
Emerald green snake (non-venomous): green throughout, tail is not red, no lateral line, head and neck distinction is not obvious, no cheek socket.
Grey-bellied green snake (non-venomous): green all over, black stripes on the head, no red tail, no cheek socket.
The Zhoushan cobra is the only species of Cobra genus Naja in Zhejiang, although it is called Zhoushan in its name, it is actually spread throughout Zhejiang and East and South China, and is best known for its expansion of the neck when threatened. When you encounter this snake, you should stay away.
Habits: Diurnal, prefers to move on open and hilly ground.
Distinguishing features: erect body dilated neck during defense, black body, with white stripes; white enlarged pigmentation on the back of the neck (shape and size have individual differences).
Snakes that have an expanded neck, but are not black undertones, are not Zhoushan cobras.
The king cobra is the longest venomous snake in China, reaching more than 3 meters and has a majestic size; only the rat snake in Zhejiang has such a size.
Habits: Diurnal, only a small number of distribution in some mountainous areas of Zhejiang.
Distinguishing features: The king cobra has a huge body size, black and white (yellow), will expand the neck, the white stripe on the back of the neck is not enlarged; there is a pair of butterfly-shaped occipital scales on the back of the head.
Fujian Hua coral snake, the head is "V" shaped white stripe.
Habits: Nocturnal, feeding on reptiles such as other small snakes.
Distinguishing features: small body size, will be in danger will be curled in a circle to attract attention. The venom of the Chinese coral snake is highly targeted and very deadly to reptiles.
The venom of the tabby-necked snake comes from its food toad, which, in addition to the mouth, also has glands on its neck that release toxins, and when threatened, it expands its neck to show a brightly colored back of its neck.
Habits: Diurnal, prefers to be active in farmland and hilly areas.
According to Japanese scholars, after eating the toad, the tabby-necked snake stores the toad's venom in the neck glands, which are excreted or splashed from the neck glands when threatened (milky white or slightly pink slurry). Toad venom is very toxic, beware of getting into the mouth, eyes and bloodstream.
The Chinese water snake and the lead-colored water snake are two kinds of water snakes mainly distributed in southern Zhejiang, and there are many snakes living in the water, but the original water snake genus only has these two species in Zhejiang.
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