Everything About Snakes In 'Born Impact'

DO YOU know that snakes are born swimmers? They use the water's surface tension to glide and can even lift 1/4 to 1/3 of their body length off of the water’s surface. This is shown in “Born Impact” this Sunday morning. Some snakes are better adapted to live in water than on land. Taal volcano, a popular tourist destination keeps a number of unique water snakes in its lake. One of them is the Taal sea snake, a rare species of venomous sea snake noted for being one of only two known species of sea snake that can be found almost exclusively in freshwater.

Host Doc Nielsen Donato investigates how this saltwater species adapted to living in a freshwater lake sitting on a caldera of volcano. Meantime, Doc Ferds encounters the real sea snake in the ocean. He must be cautious since true sea snakes are four times more venomous than a king cobra. But in spite of their deadly venom, Doc Ferds learns that these venomous snakes face dangers from humans too. He encounters one as a wounded by-catch of a fisherman.

In the Philippines , snakes are usually feared and killed because of the stigma of being a “killer” regardless of whether they are venomous or non-venomous. But in Cambodia , Doc Nielsen finds a community of people with a peculiar relationship with water snakes. In a lake known for having the world’s largest population of freshwater snakes, snakes have become a natural part of people’s lives. Catch “Born Impact” this Sunday, 9:30am, after AHA on GMA-7.