Two-lined Coral Snake

     The Two-lined Coral Snake (Calliophis bilineatus) is a small, brightly colored venomous snake of the family Elapidae. It is endemic to Palawan and several of its smaller islands adjacent to mainland. This snake occurs on a wide range of elevation from second growth forest in sea level to mossy forests high up in the mountains where it is largely active during the day. I have been doing night spotting and photography for many years, but I have not seen one during nighttime. This snake spend most of its time burrowed underground, under stacks of woods and leaf piles or cavities under rocks. It has a unique defense behavior compared to other venomous snakes in Palawan. It usually flees when threatened, but when cornered, it will flip on its back and play dead. Other technique to fool attackers is by hiding its head while raising and flicking its red tails. The predator usually finds the colorful moving tail an irresistible target and would go for it, leaving the true head free to strike back.

Two-lined Coral Snake

      This snake is believed to be one of the most venomous snakes in Palawan forests. However, they are generally considered less dangerous to humans than other venomous species because this snake have a less effective venom-delivery system. The snake is rear-fanged and the mouth is very small. Except on small parts of the human body like on the edge of fingers or toes, it can be very difficult for this snake to get its fangs under the human skin. There's only one coral snake bite victim I know in the whole province, a Pala’wan tribesman in Sitio Itulus who accidentally stepped on it and was bitten on the toe. He survived, but he told me that he was in bed for several days, too weak to sit up and suffering with headache and fever. The whole feet, he said, was swollen and painful for days.

Two-lined Coral Snake

     The Two-lined Coral Snake has potent venom, but it is said that because of their small size, these snakes don’t carry much venom in their fangs enough to cause fatality to humans. Many locals believe it, but I do not. The fact that its venom did not kill that poor tribesman doesn’t mean that its venom is not fatal to all humans because not all human bodies have the same reactions to different kinds of venom. A type of venom weak or ineffective to others can be very dangerous to someone who is highly allergic to it. I know a woman who died after being stung by a Paper Wasp and a coral snake is more than a thousand times larger than this wasp. There was a time that I never thought that wasp venom could be lethal to humans because they're small and I have been stung by the same species of wasp many times in the past. Being small means less venom, but it doesn’t always mean less dangerous. Last 2018, I found out that I'm highly allergic to scorpion venom and if I were not properly trained in first aid and did not know what to do in that kind of situation, I may not be here writing this blog today.

Two-lined Coral Snake

     This snake is small and too pretty to look dangerous, but care should be taken seriously when handling and photographing this species.