Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
bites on the lower extremities while walking. The oldest victim in a well-documented
fatal case was an 80-year-old prominent male herpetologist (Robert F.W. Mertens) who
was bitten on the right thumb by a captive
T. kirtlandii
while offering the snake food
(
Table 4.1
; Section 4.3). It is noteworthy that the victim had been bitten briefly (“quick
release”) by the same specimen some weeks earlier without any subsequent effects.
Of 12 selected representative serious cases of
R. tigrinus
envenoming (see
Table 4.1
;
Section 4.3), five (41%) were 6-14 years old (two, or 16%, were
10 years old); four
(33%) were 49-57 years old, and the remaining two victims were 20 or 40 years old,
respectively. All 12 victims were male, and at least eight (66%) of these were bit-
ten while handling, attempting to collect, or otherwise intentionally interacting (e.g.,
attempting to photograph) with the culprit snake. All of the victims were bitten on the
upper extremities, 10 (83%) were on the digits, the remainder on the wrist or dorsum
of the hand. Interestingly, all of the victims in four cases of
R. subminiatus
envenom-
ing were males between 20 and 25 years old, and all of these bites were inflicted on the
digits of the upper extremities by captive snakes during intentional contact (e.g., during
free handling; see
Table 4.1
and Section 4.3).
Due to inconsistent documentation of circumstances (and victim characteristics) in
many cases of serious envenoming by these species, there are too few well-detailed
cases for significant statistical analysis. This emphasizes the need for careful, accurate,
and detailed formal documentation of these fortunately uncommon cases.
There is a dearth of data on the risk of non-front-fanged colubroid bites in indig-
enous populations (see earlier for several countries) which are more likely to be acci-
dental and associated with invasion of the snakes' arboreal domain. In coastal Kenya,
for example, children are occasionally bitten by
D. typus
while raiding birds' nests or
holes in trees (see earlier). In Cameroon, a man was bitten on the hand by a
D. typus
while climbing a palm tree (Knabe, 1939), and in South Africa, a farmer was bitten
while picking bananas (Gerber and Adendorff, 1980), as well as a child bitten while
walking through long grass (Aitchison, 1990). Snake charmers have also been bitten
(Du Toit, 1980).
4.2 Some Representative Genera: Typical Features of
Bites and an Overview of Their Natural History and
Toxinology
4.2.1 Genus
Boiga
: Background and General Features of
Documented Bites
Approximately 34 species of
Boiga
are currently recognized. Subspecies are recognized
for several taxa with the mangrove or ringed cat snake,
B. dendrophila
(Plate 4.7A-D),
having the most (nine) subspecies.
Table 4.2
summarizes some of the dietary preferences,
geographic ranges, and average adult sizes of representative
Boiga
spp. Documented
cases of bites only involve about 10 species, and most of these are largely insignifi-
cant or limited to mild local effects [puncture wounds/lacerations, mild bleeding, minor
