Habu snake
The Habu is the name used for a number of species of poisonous snakes found in the Okinawan islands. Usually not aggressive, they bite if provoked.
The Habus are all pit vipers. They belong to the genus Trimeresurus whose other member are found in southeast Asia. Four species have the name habu:
- Himehabu Trimeresurus okinavensis (formerly classified in genus Ovophis)
- Sakishima habu Trimeresurus elegans
- Habu Trimeresurus flavoviridis
- Tokarahabu Trimeresurus tokarensis
Different variants of the snake live on different islands of Okinawa prefecture. The habus are viewed as having migrated to Okinawa over a prehistoric land bridge connecting the island to China. If one is bitten, it is excruatingly painful and fatalites were not rare on Okinawa, though the snake's poison fatalities has been controlled on Ryukyu islands that comprise Okinawa prefecture. As in other places in 1910 the mongoose was introduced from India into Okinawa to control the population of habus but recents studies gets preocupant results mongoose do not interfered with the habu, but predates other protected rare species of birds and reptiles.
The habu does not properly hibernate (in Okinawa, at least) during the winter, but is more active from April to late fall. Okinawa residents are advised to keep weeds trimmed and avoid loose lumber close to their dwellings, or anything in general that attracts the rodents upon which they feed.
In Okinawa after the American occupation, when A-12s (and the later the SR-71 Blackbird) planes were flown out of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, the locals thought the strange and dangerous-looking planes looked like a habu, dubbing it the Habu.
The habu was a prime player in a Japanese kiddie story called Miki the Mongoose. Bottles of (very expensive) "Habu wine" are widely sold in Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture; the habu venom present in the wine (along with a dead snake on the bottom) is reputed to increase male virility.
Habu Kurage (Kurage means Jellyfish in Japanese) is the name used in Okinawa for the specie of poisonous Box jellyfish Chiropsalmus quadrigatus.
External links and references
Referenced By
Battle of Okinawa | List of Japan-related topics 123-K | Okinawa | Okinawa, Japan | Okinawa Prefecture | Ryukyu | World War II/Okinawa
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