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F I E L D E X P E D I T I O N Venomous Snakes of Kerala How this works... We are looking for enthusiasts and well- wishers to support this expedition through their participation. We are taking 12 participants along with us. These participants get to be part of the expedition and are acknowledged in all publications that result from this project. Also, it involves people in projects that are otherwise not accessible to people. When and Where? We will be based in the district of Wynaad in Kerala, staying at a homestay on a 500 acre estate called Fringe Ford. The owners have graciously offered us this luxurious wildlife resort to conduct our work in. The estate is ideally placed for us to cover the perfect habitats for hump-nosed pit vipers, malabar pit vipers, kraits, Russell’s vipers and spectacled cobras. All these are species of medical importance. All these are also target species and we will need to collect samples of venom from all of these. The team will drive out from Bangalore on the 30th of May and head straight to Fringe Ford; a journey that takes approximately six hours. After nine days of sampling snakes on the property and nearby estates, the team will return to Bangalore on the 8th of June. What exactly will we be doing? Through our time in the field, we will be looking for various species of venomous snakes with a focus on hump-nosed pit vipers, Russell’s vipers and kraits. We will be collecting ecological data and also interacting with locals to find out their notions and understanding of these species. The venom samples collected from these specimens will be sent to labs in the Indian Institute of Science and Mysore University. Dates: 30th May to 8th June (ex- Bangalore) Contact Gerry on [email protected] or 9845779666. Assessing the medical importance of the snakes from India’s Southernmost State. Why are we doing this? India loses 50000 people to snakebite each year. Much of this is because we have, till recently, believed that there were only four species of medical importance in India. Over the last three to four years, it has become obvious that a lot more species are causing deaths and injuries. We now have to figure out which species have venoms with a high enough potency to affect humans and whether the existing antivenom works against them. We also need to look into the epidemiology of snakebite and learn which snakes are causing bites in which parts of the country. Towards this, we have been heading to different regions, sampling venoms and assessing the occurrence of snakebite in the areas we visit. This project is headed by Romulus Whitaker, India’s pioneer in reptile research and conservation. This work was recently featured in the film ‘One Million Snake Bites’ , which was aired on BBC’s Natural World.
