RESTORING REPUTATION FOR SNAKES

The biblical story of Eve and the snake will remain one of the most powerful information strategy of all times having succeed in painting the reptile as the source of evil and deceit.
In an effort to rehabilitate the reptile reputation alternatives for teaching will encourage people to realize the ecological significance of snakes and be able to consider alternative perspectives, especially towards harmless ones. “That is alternative to killing them”
In our African way of belief, people handling snakes are seen as witchdoctors and witches and should be stoned.This was a milestone.
Snakes are an integral part of our environment, but for most people, the only good snake is a dead one since the time of Adam and Eve.
Snakes are perceived as “poisonous” that attack and kill at any given opportunity.
However there are no poisonous snakes in the world. There are only venomous snakes. “The difference between the two terminologies is that poisonous refers to substance being lethal when ingested.
In the case of snakes, you can eat any snake in the world and won’t be poisoned, but venomous means that when a snake or any other creature bites, the venom injected can cause injuries and if not taken care soon after the bite, leads to death.
To prove this issue about the venom, there are three types:-

Cytotoxic: adversely affecting tissues and cell formation.
Neurotoxic: toxin present in venom that acts on nerve tissue
Haemotoxin: a venom component which adversely affects the blood or the circulatory system

Not all snakes are venomous. Some species are very venomous, some mildly and some meek and harmless and can’t hurt a child.
Most people suggest that all green snakes are green mambas, and would prefer to kill one on the sight. According to a Kenyan scientist from the Herpetology department of the National Museums of Kenya which boasts of its biggest collection of reptiles in East and Central Africa, “not all green snakes are the highly venomous mambas”
Snakes are cold-blooded or ecotothermic which means that they regulate their body temperature mainly by external source of heat. Cold greatly reduces the metabolic rate in snakes and consequently a greater number of species is found in tropical and sub-tropical areas than in temperate zones or at the poles.
Some of the harmless snakes are:-

Brown house snake {lamprophis fuliginosus}
Common egg eater {dasypeltis scabra}
Sand Boa             Eryx colubrinus 
When you see a snake, just turn around and walk away.



Member:Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association


Member:Nature Kenya