Snakes of Bhutan: past, present, and future

Abstract

The Kingdom of Bhutan, a major part of the Eastern Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot, harbours a remarkable yet understudied snake fauna. This article synthesizes past and present knowledge of Bhutan’s snakes, tracing herpetological research from early 20th-century expeditions to current studies and establishing a checklist of 88 recognized species. Bhutan’s distinct geoclimatic position, spanning subtropical valleys to alpine meadows across elevations of 100–7,500 meters above sea level, supports diverse bioclimatic zones and a rich snake fauna across 10 families. The checklist includes 21 venomous species of the Elapidae and Viperidae, notably the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) and Russell’s Viper (Daboia russelii), alongside medically important non-venomous constrictors such as the Indian Rock Python (Python molurus) and Burmese Python (P. bivittatus). Despite constitutional protection under the Forest and Nature Conservation Act of 1995 and cultural reverence in Vajrayana Buddhism, snakes face increasing threats from habitat fragmentation, deliberate killing, road mortality, and potentially climate change. This report examines their ecological significance as meso-predators and bioindicators, evaluates conservation initiatives including transboundary protected areas, and identifies knowledge gaps in distribution, population dynamics, and climate vulnerability. It recommends strengthening species-specific protection, expanding systematic surveys, applying environmental DNA and camera trapping, integrating snake conservation into Bhutan’s carbon-negative development framework, and establishing community-based rapid-response networks for human-snake conflict mitigation.