Habu
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T. okinavensis |
- 'Habu' is also a nickname for the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.
A Habu is any of four species of venomous snakes found in the Ryukyu Islands. They are usually not aggressive; however they will bite if provoked.
The Habus are all pit vipers. They belong to the genus Trimeresurus whose other members 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 excruciatingly painful and fatalities were not rare on Okinawa, though the snake's poison fatalities have been controlled on the Ryukyu islands that comprise Okinawa prefecture. As in other places (http://www.birdinghawaii.co.uk/nonavianground2.htm#MONGOOSE%20() in 1910 the mongoose was introduced from India into Okinawa to control the population of habus but recent studies get preoccupant results mongooses have not interfered with the habu, but predates other protected rare species of birds and reptiles (http://www.ryukyushimpo.co.jp/english/enews/e001016.html#enews_03).
The habu does not properly hibernate (in Okinawa, at least) during the winter, but is more active from April to late autumn. 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 the habu feed.
In Okinawa after the American occupation, when A-12 (and 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 children's story called Miki the Mongoose (http://www.mikimongoose.com/eng/Meet_Miki/Hiro_the_Habu/hiro_the_habu.html). 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 species of poisonous Box jellyfish Chiropsalmus quadrigatus.
External links and references
- What is a Habu? (http://habu.org/what-is-habu.html)
- Japanese page on habus (http://www.jinjapan.org/kidsweb/odyssey/primer/unspoiled/mt_05.html)
- United States military page on habus (http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/Public%20Affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2002/020621-snake.html)
- Habu? (http://www.habu.ipfox.com)