Is trade the reason for the unusual colour morph of Cobra from Goa? Response to Sawant et al.

Abstract

Comments on Sawant et al. published a record of an unusual colour morph of the Indian Cobra, Naja naja (Linnaeus, 1758), based on a specimen rescued from Modelo wado, Assonora (15.618°N; 73.897°E), Goa, India. The record of this unusual colour morph and published images of the Indian Spectacle Cobra by Sawant et al. indicate that the specimen is not from Goa but elsewhere, most probably from states of northwestern India. This unusual colour morph cobra is not a case of higher melanism in that individual snake as quoted by Sawant et al., but it is a result of some illegal anthropogenic activities in the area.