Online Course – Advanced Snake Identification

PLEASE NOTE: This is an ONLINE course on Southern African snakes, that you complete via the Internet, and results in a digital certificate. To see our list of upcoming in-person courses, please go here.

Once you have signed up, you have lifetime access to the course, and are able to complete the course in your own time. (The only time constraints are on the quizzes after each module, which need to be completed in the allotted time once started.)

Snake identification can be a tricky task for beginners and even for snake enthusiasts or experts. Of the 172-odd species and subspecies that occur in Southern Africa, there are a few groups that seem to confuse people frequently.

For medical personnel, the section on the Deadly Dozen may be of particular interest. This includes key identification features for the 12 snakes whose bites are life-threatening and of medical importance. There are around 20 snake species and subspecies that may fall into this category, but their bites are not necessarily considered life-threatening.

The rest of the course covers easily confused snakes and commonly misidentified species. We include distribution maps, scale counts and a key to identification within each group. For an in-depth understanding of all the species in Southern Africa, one must dive into field guides such as A Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa by Johan Marais. However, for improved general knowledge amongst enthusiasts, this course covers the important dangerous species as well as easily-confused and commonly misidentified species.