TY - JOUR

T1 - Promoting co-existence between humans and venomous snakes through increasing the herpetological knowledge base

AU - Malhotra, Anita

AU - Wüster, Wolfgang

AU - Owens, John Benjamin

AU - Hodges, Cameron Wesley

AU - Jesudasan, Allwin

AU - Ch, Gnaneswar

AU - Kartik, Ajay

AU - Christopher, Peter

AU - Louies, Jose

AU - Naik, Hiral

AU - Santra, Vishal

AU - Kuttalam, Sourish Rajagopalan

AU - Attre, Shaleen

AU - Sasa, Mahmood

AU - Bravo-Vega, Carlos

AU - Murray, Kris A.

N1 - © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PY - 2021/11/1

Y1 - 2021/11/1

N2 - Snakebite incidence at least partly depends on the biology of the snakes involved. However, studies of snake biology have been largely neglected in favour of anthropic factors, with the exception of taxonomy, which has been recognised for some decades to affect the design of antivenoms. Despite this, within-species venom variation and the unpredictability of the correlation with antivenom cross-reactivity has continued to be problematic. Meanwhile, other aspects of snake biology, including behaviour, spatial ecology and activity patterns, distribution, and population demography, which can contribute to snakebite mitigation and prevention, remain underfunded and understudied. Here, we review the literature relevant to these aspects of snakebite and illustrate how demographic, spatial, and behavioural studies can improve our understanding of why snakebites occur and provide evidence for prevention strategies. We identify the large gaps that remain to be filled and urge that, in the future, data and relevant metadata be shared openly via public data repositories so that studies can be properly replicated and data used in future meta-analyses.

AB - Snakebite incidence at least partly depends on the biology of the snakes involved. However, studies of snake biology have been largely neglected in favour of anthropic factors, with the exception of taxonomy, which has been recognised for some decades to affect the design of antivenoms. Despite this, within-species venom variation and the unpredictability of the correlation with antivenom cross-reactivity has continued to be problematic. Meanwhile, other aspects of snake biology, including behaviour, spatial ecology and activity patterns, distribution, and population demography, which can contribute to snakebite mitigation and prevention, remain underfunded and understudied. Here, we review the literature relevant to these aspects of snakebite and illustrate how demographic, spatial, and behavioural studies can improve our understanding of why snakebites occur and provide evidence for prevention strategies. We identify the large gaps that remain to be filled and urge that, in the future, data and relevant metadata be shared openly via public data repositories so that studies can be properly replicated and data used in future meta-analyses.

KW - Snakebite mitigation

KW - Conservation ecology

KW - behaviour

KW - risk mapping

KW - snake rescue networks

U2 - 10.1016/j.toxcx.2021.100081

DO - 10.1016/j.toxcx.2021.100081

M3 - Article

C2 - 34522881

VL - 12

JO - Toxicon: X

JF - Toxicon: X

SN - 2590-1710

IS - November 2021

M1 - 10081

ER -