📸 PhotoPhoto: Thomas Brown · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Many-banded Krait
Bungarus multicinctus (Many-banded Krait · タイワンアマガサ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum length of 150 cm is slightly shorter than the height of an adult human (Comparison).
- 💡 University of Hong Kong accounts note that a bite feels itchy rather than painful at first, with envenomation symptoms appearing 1–4 hours later, and that delayed treatment can be fatal, with several deaths recorded in Hong Kong.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Many-banded Krait is a venomous snake distributed across southern China, Taiwan, Myanmar, Laos, and northern Vietnam that preys mainly on other snakes.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
More than 35 pairs of alternating black and white bands run along its back, with the black bands wider than the white ones. Its head is mostly black, its body is triangular in cross-section, and its tail is short and slender.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It is active at night, feeding mainly on other snakes while also catching mice, eels, frogs, and lizards. It lays 4–8 eggs, and hatchlings measure 25–30 cm in total length.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List VU (2024) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/191957/199532037
- • IUCN Red List category VU — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 5WRZ7
- • iucnredlist.org — 199532037
- • wikidata.org — Q637161
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Bungarus multicinctus.jpg
- • biosch.hku.hk — Bungarus multicinctus multicinctus.html
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Michael Scroggie, from original photograph by Gary M. Stolz, USFWS (original photograph in public domain). · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Notechis ater niger)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.