Staff at an airport in India could not explain how a snake reached a spot high inside one of its buildings. Just above where the animal appeared is the control tower that directs aircraft landings and takeoffs.
Here's what to know
The building stands beside the old domestic terminal. The Sept. 30 discovery was one of three snake sightings reported over several months at the airport's old, nine-story air traffic control building, according to The Telegraph. The snake was found on a stair landing between the seventh and eighth floors at Calcutta airport.
The snake was a common bronzeback, a nonvenomous tree snake, herpetologist Anirban Chaudhuri said, based on a photograph sent by the outlet's Metro section.
Texture, friction, or something to grip gives snakes the purchase they need to move upward, experts cited by The Telegraph said. Unlike lizards, they cannot cling to smooth glass — even capable climbers such as common bronzebacks, common wolf snakes, and Oriental flying snakes.
"This snake is also found on overhead utility cables. It could have entered the building through such a cable or used a pipe or vent stack. We cannot say for sure," Chaudhuri said, per The Telegraph.
More background
The airport sightings come amid more frequent snake encounters in housing developments, along roads, and in drains around New Town, Rajarhat, and nearby areas of North 24-Parganas. Monsoon flooding and rapid urbanization were identified as contributing factors.
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Two people died from snakebites in New Town during a two-week period in July 2023. According to Chaudhuri, venomous species found around the airport include monocled cobras, Russell's vipers, and common kraits, though these snakes are not strong climbers.
The loss of the snakes' natural habitat adds context to questions about why wild animals attack humans, although the airport report describes sightings, not attacks.
What's being done?
When snakes appear, airport staff contact the forest department, which sends personnel to capture them, according to a senior airport official quoted in The Telegraph.
A North 24-Parganas forestry official explained how the department relocates the snakes.
"When we capture a snake, we don't release it nearby. But we cannot take it a hundred kilometers away," they said. "They are usually released in a thicket or a forest not very far away."
A snake discovered around 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 2 on the second floor was caught and released outside. That floor includes employee restrooms.
Chaudhuri has also helped the forest department rescue and rehabilitate small mammals and reptiles.
How the snake spotted in September entered the building remains unconfirmed.
"Much of these areas were wetlands. They used to be natural habitats for snakes. Humans are the intruders here," a forest official from the North 24-Parganas division said, according to The Telegraph. "The snakes are just trying to find a way to survive."
Where can I learn more?
Snakes have also turned up at other transport facilities and public buildings in India.
• Near a Maharashtra airport, rescuers faced a 10-foot python in a tug of war.
• In Hyderabad, baby cobras inside a police station raised fears of a hidden nest.
• In Jalpaiguri, students fled when a cobra coiled in a classroom, halting lessons for two hours.
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