Habu

'Habu' is also a nickname for the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.

A Habu (波布, Habu^?) is any of four species of venomous snakes found in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The habus are all pit vipers that belong to the genus Trimeresurus whose other members are found throughout southeast Asia. Four species have the name habu:

• Himehabu, Trimeresurus okinavensis (formerly classified in genus Ovophis)
• Sakishima habu, Trimeresurus elegans
• Habu, Trimeresurus flavoviridis
• Tokarahabu, Trimeresurus tokarensis

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Snakes living on different islands of Okinawa prefecture have slightly different features. The habus are believed to have migrated to Okinawa over a prehistoric land bridge connecting the island to China.

Habus are usually not aggressive; however they will bite if provoked. If one is bitten, it is excruciatingly painful and fatalities were not rare on Okinawa, though fatalities have been controlled on the Ryukyu islands. As in other places^[1] in 1910 the mongoose was introduced from India into Okinawa to control the population of habus but recent studies indicate that since the habu is nocturnal and the mongoose active during the day, mongooses have not interfered with the habu, but instead prey upon other protected rare species of birds and reptiles.^[2]

The habu does not properly hibernate during the winter, but is more active from April to late autumn. Okinawa residents are advised to keep weeds trimmed and avoid loose lumber close to their dwellings, or anything else that could attract the rodents upon which the habu feed.

Popular culture

• When A-12 (and later the SR-71 Blackbird) planes were flown out of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, the locals thought the strange and dangerous-looking planes looked like a habu, and nicknamed them Habu.
• A habu was a main character in a Japanese children's story 'Miki the Mongoose'.^[3]
• Bottles of (very expensive) "Habu sake" are sold in most of the alcohol stores on the big island of Okinawa prefecture; the habu venom present in the sake (along with a dead snake on the bottom) is reputed to increase male virility. Some less expensive bottles have the venom but no snake in the bottom.
• Habu Kurage (kurage means jellyfish in Japanese) is the name used in Okinawa for the species of venomous Box jellyfish Chiropsalmus quadrigatus.
• Habu is the name of a gaming mouse made by Microsoft in collaboration with Razer.
• In the anime and manga series The Prince of Tennis, a character from the Okinawan Higa middle school, Hirokoba Rin, names one of his special moves the Habu Shot.
• Habu is the name of a custom knife design by knifemaker, Ken Onion.
• The Pokémon species Habunake is based on the habu and has an age-old feud with the Zangoose species, which is based on the mongoose.

References

1. ^ Non-Avian Wildlife of Hawaii: Indian Mongoose
2. ^ JapanUpdate: Mongoose poses exceedingly grave threat to native birds
3. ^ Miki Mongoose: The Spirit of Okinawa - Hiro the Habu