Dilmah Conservation, the best practise arm of Ceylon Tea Services, have published this unique and useful booklet as a practical aid to snake conservation in Sri Lanka.
At the time of publication 102 species of snakes are recorded from Sri Lanka yet of these only 21 cause serious envenomations and only 6 species of the land snakes are known to cause human fatalities. This simple guide enables any member of the general public to identify these species and tell them apart from their non-venomous mimics.
Sri Lanka has a fascinating snake fauna with 87 terrestrial species, 14 marine and 1 brackish water. 49% are endemic or do not occur naturally elsewhere in the world. The majority are non-venomous and beneficial yet as elsewhere in the world snakes are routinely killed on sight through the usual festering mixture of fear, ignorance, prejudice, misinformation and misconception.
Snake-bite statistics are revealing. There are perhaps 1,000,000 envenomings and in excess of 75,000 deaths in the south-east Asian region as a whole each year. In Sri Lanka alone there are estimated 30,000 – 35,000 bites and 100 – 150 fatalities each year (likely an underestimate based solely on hospital returns). However the threat from snakes to humans is comparatively low, fatal vehicle accidents accounted for 2,721 lives in Sri Lanka in 2010.
Authored by the Sri Lankan herpetologist L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe 'Recognising Deadly Venomous Snakes from Harmless Snakes of Sri Lanka' is a handy photo-illustrated guide to distinguishing the deadly venomous snakes of the country from their harmless mimics.
This little book is very well laid out and well produced with a high degree of attention to detail. It is also very well illustrated. The species depicted on the covers are named and in the case of the Ornate flying snake, Chrysopelea ornata, or Malsara, which does not figure as a non-venomous mimic, there is a useful note on the species and it's biology.
This is not a field guide, the species are presented with their Latin name, and their common English and Sinhalese names and without any taxonomy, systematic keys or distribution maps. This is a 'guide to' and an excellent one. Notes to the species cover their toxicity, size, colouration, simple identification characters, distribution, behaviour, prey types, and reproductive pattern. The colour photographs are very good. Two photographic tableaux are presented to test the reader in their identification skills ; one presents the vipers and their mimics, the other, comprising a dozen photos of similar looking black and white, and brown and white banded snakes, presents the kraits and their wolf snake mimics.
The final section covers the single species of cobra, Naja naja, found on Sri Lanka. At first glance and to the casual observer juvenile rat snakes can be easily be mistaken for juvenile cobras. If you handle a young snake without knowing exactly what it is you only have yourself to blame if things go wrong.
It is important to note that the Hump nosed viper, Hypnale hypnale, is a beautiful yet dangerously venomous species that has caused fatalities yet it has no non-venomous mimic and although there are photographs of it it falls outside of the scope of the book. You will take your life in your hands if you handle it carelessly.
Dilmah Conservation offer their admirable declaration of commitment to sustainability and the book is well branded down to the rather self-indulgent full page photo portrait of the founder and the precision engineered colophon.
Tea estates occupy a very important place in both the economy and ecology of Sri Lanka. The author, advisers, and both the Dilmah and Ceylon Tea Services teams are all to be congratulated on a first class publication.
56 pages. 85 colour photos, bibliography. 18cm.
Paperback. 99789550081127.
Available as a free download as attached in pdf.
At the time of publication 102 species of snakes are recorded from Sri Lanka yet of these only 21 cause serious envenomations and only 6 species of the land snakes are known to cause human fatalities. This simple guide enables any member of the general public to identify these species and tell them apart from their non-venomous mimics.
Sri Lanka has a fascinating snake fauna with 87 terrestrial species, 14 marine and 1 brackish water. 49% are endemic or do not occur naturally elsewhere in the world. The majority are non-venomous and beneficial yet as elsewhere in the world snakes are routinely killed on sight through the usual festering mixture of fear, ignorance, prejudice, misinformation and misconception.
Snake-bite statistics are revealing. There are perhaps 1,000,000 envenomings and in excess of 75,000 deaths in the south-east Asian region as a whole each year. In Sri Lanka alone there are estimated 30,000 – 35,000 bites and 100 – 150 fatalities each year (likely an underestimate based solely on hospital returns). However the threat from snakes to humans is comparatively low, fatal vehicle accidents accounted for 2,721 lives in Sri Lanka in 2010.
Authored by the Sri Lankan herpetologist L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe 'Recognising Deadly Venomous Snakes from Harmless Snakes of Sri Lanka' is a handy photo-illustrated guide to distinguishing the deadly venomous snakes of the country from their harmless mimics.
This little book is very well laid out and well produced with a high degree of attention to detail. It is also very well illustrated. The species depicted on the covers are named and in the case of the Ornate flying snake, Chrysopelea ornata, or Malsara, which does not figure as a non-venomous mimic, there is a useful note on the species and it's biology.
This is not a field guide, the species are presented with their Latin name, and their common English and Sinhalese names and without any taxonomy, systematic keys or distribution maps. This is a 'guide to' and an excellent one. Notes to the species cover their toxicity, size, colouration, simple identification characters, distribution, behaviour, prey types, and reproductive pattern. The colour photographs are very good. Two photographic tableaux are presented to test the reader in their identification skills ; one presents the vipers and their mimics, the other, comprising a dozen photos of similar looking black and white, and brown and white banded snakes, presents the kraits and their wolf snake mimics.
The final section covers the single species of cobra, Naja naja, found on Sri Lanka. At first glance and to the casual observer juvenile rat snakes can be easily be mistaken for juvenile cobras. If you handle a young snake without knowing exactly what it is you only have yourself to blame if things go wrong.
It is important to note that the Hump nosed viper, Hypnale hypnale, is a beautiful yet dangerously venomous species that has caused fatalities yet it has no non-venomous mimic and although there are photographs of it it falls outside of the scope of the book. You will take your life in your hands if you handle it carelessly.
Dilmah Conservation offer their admirable declaration of commitment to sustainability and the book is well branded down to the rather self-indulgent full page photo portrait of the founder and the precision engineered colophon.
Tea estates occupy a very important place in both the economy and ecology of Sri Lanka. The author, advisers, and both the Dilmah and Ceylon Tea Services teams are all to be congratulated on a first class publication.
56 pages. 85 colour photos, bibliography. 18cm.
Paperback. 99789550081127.
Available as a free download as attached in pdf.
Last edited:
