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| Decorated Indian Elephant |
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| Decorated Indian Elephant |
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| Decorated Indian Elephant |
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| Decorated Indian Elephant |
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| Decorated Indian Elephant |
Their habitats are lakes and rivers of South and Central America. The interesting fact about Anacondas is that they are so to say independent and capable of taking care of themselves as soon as they’re born! Well of course they are, since they are incredibly large from the first day of their lives and don’t need to worry about being eaten.
Comparing to Anaconda, the body of the Reticulated Python is not so heavy like that of an Anaconda. Nevertheless, it is capable of killing an adult man thanks to its strong muscles and contractions they produce. Regardless to that, the Reticulated Pythons are considered to be less dangerous than Anacondas, and there were very few incidents of this kind reported.
Cobras and vipers kill 14,000 people each year in Southern Asia. Photo: Getty Images
India has the biggest snake bite death toll, with around 11,000 lives lost.
In total, between 1.2 million and 5.5 million snake bites may occur annually, scientists have estimated. Only a quarter of these result in "envenoming", the injection of poison into the blood stream from a snake's fangs.
Snake bites pose an important yet neglected threat to public health, according to the researchers led by Professor Janaka de Silver, from the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka.
The global health burden of snake bites was assessed by pooling together available data on envenomings and deaths from more than 100 countries in 21 geographical regions.
A total of 58 countries, including the Republic of Ireland, were identified as having no record of snake bites.
In some other parts of the world, notably sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people bitten and killed by poisonous snakes was thought to be greatly under-estimated.
Many victims in these regions do not seek or get medical help and their deaths go unrecorded, said the scientists writing in the online journal PLoS Medicine.
Studies suggested that only 8.5% of snake bite victims in Nigeria and 27% in Kenya sought hospital treatment.
The researchers calculated that globally, at least 421,000 envenomings and 20,000 snake bite deaths occur each year. However, the figures could be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths.
Southern Asia bore the brunt of the deaths. In this part of the world, venomous snakes such as cobras and vipers killed 14,000 people each year. India, with its billion-strong population, suffered 11,000 deaths alone - more than any other country in the world.
Although a quarter of all snake bites occurred in Central and South America, relatively few resulted in deaths compared with other high incidence areas, the researchers reported. This was probably due to better systems for handling snake bites and the availability of antivenom.
The scientists concluded: "Snake bites cause considerable morbidity (illness) and mortality worldwide. The highest burden exists in South Asia, South-East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa."
Population-based studies in countries that appear to have the highest rates of people being bitten and killed by snakes were "urgently required", they said.
The researchers added: "Accurate data on the epidemiology of snake bite, globally, will facilitate prioritisation of scarce health care resources for prevention and treatment of this neglected health problem."
In an accompanying article, Dr Jean-Philippe Chippaux, from the Institute of Research and Development in La Paz, Bolivia, said the current world economic crisis could reduce the availability of antivenom in Africa.
For most rural African families, a vial of antivenom cost the equivalent of several months' income.
Dr Chippaux wrote: "A better knowledge of morbidity and mortality due to snakebite would lead to improved management, and it may reduce the case fatality rate and mortality (though perhaps not the incidence).
"Armed with better information on the global burden of snakebite, antivenom manufacturers would be able to better regulate production, and medical authorities could distribute antivenoms to where they are most useful and needed..
"De Silva and colleagues' study is a preliminary, but essential, step in improving accessibility of antivenoms and the treatment of snakebite."
