SERPENTES -2
1.
Reza a lenda que São Patrício –
St. Patrick, para os íntimos – foi um missionário cristão do séc. V d.C que ‘empurrou’
para o mar as cobras que o atormentaram durante seu jejum de 40 dias no topo de
uma colina. De lá para cá, nunca mais se viu uma única cobrinha na chamada ‘Emerald
Island’.
2.
As cinco serpentes mais
peçonhentas do mundo são a taipan do interior, a cobra marrom, a taipan costeira,
a cobra-tigre asiática e a mamba negra, quase todas com forte sotaque
australiano. A jararaca brasileira nem paga placê, como dizem os frequentadores
do Jockey Club.
3.
Quanto mais quente o corpo da
serpente, mais rapidamente ela conseguirá digerir sua presa. Normalmente, uma
cobra leva de 3 a 5 dias para digerir sua ‘refeição’. No caso de cobras muito
grandes, como a sucuri, por exemplo, a digestão pode levar semanas. Preguiçosa,
como ela só.
Once, there lived a farmer and his wife. They had a little son. The
farmer had a pet mongoose. The little boy and the mongoose were fond of each
other. They were good playmates.
One day the farmer was busy at his fields. The farmer's wife had left to
the market. The little boy was fast asleep in a cradle. The mongoose was lying
down near the cradle.
A cobra somehow got into the house and it was nearing the little boy.
The mongoose sniffed the snake and jumped up. He fought with the cobra. The
cobra began to attack. There was a fierce fight between the cobra and the
mongoose. The mongoose finally bit and killed the cobra.
The mongoose saw the farmer's wife returning from market. He ran happily
towards her to greet her. She saw blood around the mouth and paws of the
mongoose. The farmer's wife mistook that the mongoose had attacked her son.
The farmer's wife took a long stick and gave heavy blows on the mongoose
and then ran into the house. She was shocked to see a dead cobra lying on the
floor near her son. Now she realised her mistake. Her sorrow knew no
bounds.
MORAL
: Look before you leap.
5.
A fim de evitar os predadores, algumas serpentes
fazem cocô sempre que podem (ou querem). Elas ficam tão imundas
e fedorentas que os predadores acabam se afastando. É a
principal arma de defesa da inofensiva cobra de jardim e da serpente
nariz-de-porco mexicana.