The Uzbek segment of social media sowed fear, like YouTube channels, among netizens showing a 15-meter snake that was allegedly discovered in the Nurata Mountains, Navoi region.
Then a message on Facebook added fuel to the flames where shepherds found a 3-meter snake in the mountains of Jizzakh, and caught a serpent, like an anaconda in Karakalpakstan
Factchecker.uz tried to clarify this murky issue and find out whether huge snakes can live in the local climate of Uzbekistan.
According to herpetologist Timur Abduraupov, junior researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, giant snakes cannot survive in Central Asia.
- Snakes longer than two meters long cannot live in our country because we have a harsh and cold winter season. Usually, reptiles cannot endure cold, so they hibernate and fall asleep. Big snakes can't sleep because their body needs to absorb a huge amount of oxygen. When snakes fall asleep, their metabolism slows down and the oxygen exchange between their muscles recedes. Therefore, the local snakes are not big. I often hear stories about snakes 10 and 15 meters long in Uzbekistan. It’s just a myth.
As for the video about a snake found in Jizzakh, it’s a viper. The size is not too big. The snake is enlarged in the video. The grass growing around the snake shows that it is small.
Snakes are often found in the mountains, hills, and grasslands of Uzbekistan.
They can only bite if one accidentally steps on them. Otherwise, the snake will never attack a person first! You do not have to kill snakes unless they attack you. They are useful animals and feed mainly on rodents,” the herpetologist concluded.
Factchecker.uz verdict: false