Guindy national park gets new attraction - white cobra

CHENNAI: A white cobra (Naja naja), accidentally caught by snake catchers from a village near Tiruvallur, found a home in Children's Park, Guindy, on Thursday.Chennai wildlife warden K Geethanjali said the reptile was brought to the park as it was looking unusually white. This was the first ever white cobra on display at the park, she said. By evening it had attracted a large crowd of visitors around its enclosure, said park authorities.The five-foot long cobra is an albino, which is a physical disorder. Robbed of its natural skin colour, the reptile is left without camouflage, exposing it to predators and enemies, they said.Herpetologist Romulus Whitaker said albino cobras were often found in Sri Lanka. Wildlife biologist P Gowrishankar, however, said the cobra was not an albino, and that it looked white because of absence of color pigmentation in the body. The specimen should be released back in the wild, as it will help passing its gene to next generation, he said. Reptilian researcher S R Ganesh said the cobra looks like a partial albino. Full albinos will have red eyes, whereas this cobra had blackish eyes, he said.