A day created to help raise awareness and spread education about snakes and the important role they play in our ecosystems.
Here are four (4) spectacular ways that snakes are important and worthy of your respect:
1. Snakes Maintain Balance in the Food Web.
Snakes play an integral role in maintaining balance in the ecosystem. In most systems, snakes can be both predator and prey. When a large prey population attracts and sustains a large snake population, those snakes become prey for birds, mammals and even other snakes! Some snakes specialize in preying on other snakes, like the Cobras, which can prey on Puff adder because they are immune to Puff adder venom.
In Southeast Asia, the king cobra, the longest venomous snake in the world, is also a snake-eating specialist!
2. Snakes are a Natural Form of Pest Control.
As predators, snakes keep prey populations in balance. For example, rodents reproduce exponentially in the absence of predators, as long as there is plenty of food. This is particularly true in environments dominated by humans.
The University of Nebraska estimates that mice cause $20 million in damage annually in Nebraska! Most people try to control these pests with chemicals which end up polluting the environment. Snakes provide an easy, environmentally friendly, free and natural pest control service.
Another example, Mole Snake, Brown House Snake, Rufus Beaked Snake etc in Northern Tanzania eat rodents who are hosts to ticks and flea. Those ticks and flea are a vector for Lyme disease, which is a dangerous bacterial infection that can be transmitted to humans. When the snakes reduce the rodent populations, the prevalence of Lyme disease in the environment is reduced.
3. Tourist Attraction
While most visitors visit Tanzania and other destinations for safaris, there are numerous other places such as Meserani Snake Parks many places where you can see the snakes in the cages and hold the harmless one and gain the experience
4. Snakes Deserve our Respect and Appreciation.
Snakes, while feared around the world, are also revered and celebrated in many cultures. In some societies snakes are often viewed as good fortune and in others, the snake created the world. Being predators, the benefits of snakes are now being recognized as providing humans with an ecological service. However, snakes are seriously under threat. Some snake species have become threatened due to habitat destruction, urban development, disease, persecution, unsustainable trade and through the introduction of invasive species. Many snake species are endangered and some species are on the brink of extinction. As a society, we do not have to love snakes, but we can at least respect their right to exist without harm and appreciate their vital role in maintaining Earth’s biodiversity.
Thanks to all our environmental partners of Barrick Gold Mine, Geita Gold Mine, followers and subscribers of our social media who make us strong and proud! With your help we’re slowly dissolving the ignorance and myths surrounding snakes and spreading snake awareness and education far and wide.